My fingers are crossed

The husband and I are now both working at the "home" and we both hate it. My original boss got fired and his "assistant" who has power issues is now in charge. Life is not good at the home! This guy is a hoot, but not in a good way, and if I had more time, I would elaborate. The thing is, I don't think anyone else wants his crappy position either! We are training new people, and they are so lost. I have been there a little over 3 months and am SO ready to leave...but, the paychecks come in very handy! WELL, I just noticed today that one of the thousands of resume's we have sent out has actually been looked at favorably! Now for another phone interview. This will be phone interview number 3----third time is the charm right! I am keeping my fingers crossed so hard they hurt. But now, I must get ready to get to work~

Ups and Downs

Since my last post, my life has been a series of ups and downs. I don't know where to start, and this post may reflect the ramblings of the ADHD mind, but since it is my blog, I am not caring. With that being said, read on dear readers.

Had my latest check up-I am diabetic and need to have doctors check me out regularly so I don't end up the footless person O'bama was so excited about when begging for health care reform support. Anyway, my A1C came back at an incredible 5.6!!! If I keep being such a model patient, I may get to stop the medication I use. Although the medicine is probably what made my number that low--the lowest in 2 years! That is an up. Great way to start St. Patrick's Day! Now, are you ready for it, the low: on my way home I had a fender bender. I have no idea what color the light was, but I got the running a red light ticket--lucky me! No one was hurt--Thank God! And both cars weren't injured critically. My first auto accident and I am pretty sure that I am going to get the blame for the whole thing. But, Upside--I found out that my insurance is good and the other guy will be able to get his car fixed without making me go bankrupt. Downside, my premiums will probably go up--with my luck!

NCAA men's basketball tournament is on!! So exciting. The whole family filled out brackets. Kansas--I am a huge Jayhawk fan---ranked #1 in their region and predicted by many to win the whole tournament. I was one of the many! Rock chalk Jayhawk baby!
Second round, they get beat by Northern Iowa (who?) by 2 points--actually the score should have been worse because Kansas played HORRIBLE. But, down side, they lost and my tournament is so not that much fun anymore. It is over before it really began.

I got a new job. I am cooking in a nursing/rehab facility now. It pays better than my last job and since we need the fundage, this is definately an up. Also, there is a lot of walking involved--I not only cook the food, I also deliver it to the 4 halls of the facility. Good pay and exercise--up! I would have liked to have had a job that not only paid well, but also allowed me to sit. Not being in the best of shape and not used to working 8 plus hours at a time, I feel like I need to use a wheel chair. I cannot believe how bad my feet hurt. This is a good job and I feel like I am helping people. So this is a plus, but the body aches are most definately a minus. I miss being a house mom who only works while the kids are at school and has summers off. Now my husband, Mike, is Mr. Mom and not really enjoying that as much as he thought he would. Which brings to mind, be careful what you ask for. But that is another story for another time.

Tomorrow is my day off! This is a great UP. The down side of this is the fact that I will probably be trying to recover from the 9 days I have worked and trying to get pumped up for the next Monday through Friday I still have to work. Learning new jobs, no matter how menial, is not easy. Especially for semi-old dogs like me.
I am now employed and no longer looking for work--major up. It may not be my dream job, but money is money. I am just hoping that I don't run out of Ibuprofin before I get used to this job!

March Madness

I have found the cure for the olympics withdrawal: March Madness. At our house we love the NCAA tournament and every year is a grand "picks" adventure. We make 4 brackets and one master bracket and everybody picks their teams for the whole tournament. I did pretty well last year and my youngest is a pro at picking longshot upsets! We aren't gamblers, but this is friendly competition. My husband and I used to do our picks and the winner would receive a 6 pack of beverages from the loser. This is what we will be doing at our household soon. Well, that and continuing our unfruitful job hunt.
We are keeping our fingers crossed for a possible hit on the Bingo Board of jobs. I don't want to jinx it, but it could be big. In the meantime, I am planning on abandoning my lofty goal of an office job and persue yet another job that requires the bare minimum of education. I think I will start looking at the convenience store job market. I am considering this for two reasons: 1) I need WORK that provides a paycheck--any legal kind will do! 2) I don't want to begin a job that will be hard to leave if my husband gets a job and we have to move. It wouldn't be fair to me or the potential employer.
I have been a Craigslist sucker once and I don't want to go there again. I am still trying to find work through the internet, but it isn't very promising. I have matured through trial and error in that respect. Let me tell you about my experience while I have your eye.
I applied for an office job. I have been looking for receptionist positions, secretarial and clerical jobs basically. Well, I received an answer to one of my letters begging for a job--otherwise known as a cover letter. It informed me that this person was in need of a personal assistant to run errands and handle mail and the occasional money matter. I wasn't interested in the work, but as it was supposed to pay 500 bucks a week, I was intrigued. I replied to the person that I was willing to give this a try. He asked for my name, address and phone numbers. I replied since he didn't ask for a social security number or for any bank information. Well, he asked me to set up a yahoo address so they could deal with me in a chat format--this was because the person was hard of hearing and didn't want to use the phone unless necessary. Believe me, I had my doubts about whether this whole thing was legit, but needing extra funds blinded me. I complied and when the time came to enter into a dialogue with this person, I couldn't figure out how to use the yahoo chat thing. Anyway, I emailed this address that the position wasn't for me and I wished him good luck in his work. As the day wore on, a FedEx truck delivered an envelope with a certified check for over 3,000 dollars. The check had no explanation, no stub, and my name was written in ink; not typed like usual business practice. I was baffled. Then, I went online to check and sure enough, "My Boss" had emailed me instructions about what I was to do when I received this check. Apparantly it was for an orphanage to buy gifts for the kids and because the gifts would be hard to mail, I was to just wire transfer them money for this man. I was also supposed to subtract my $500 weekly pay from the amount of the check. I thought, "OK, I can do this." But I had a real odd feeling about the whole thing. I decided not to put the check into my account, because I didn't want to involve my bank and expose my accounts to anyone in case they could access all my info. So, I went to a bank that could do a wire transfer. Only, I had to cash the check first and since I didn't have an account there, they wouldn't cash it. So, I just decided to use my bank. I am glad I did. The teller was curious and I told her everything I knew about the check. I also told her that I was nervous about the check. We took the matter to a bank official who made a copy of the check and the instructions I was supposed to use in connection with the check. He then gave me an email address and instructed me to fwd the email I got about the check to this address. If I would have put the check in my account, I would have been liable for the fees this bad check would have incurred. If I would have been stupid enough to actually wire the money to the "orphanage", I would have also been out the money I wired because the whole thing was BOGUS! Since then, I have blocked this email from my email list and I have cancelled my yahoo experience.
The bank official told me the certified check was a very good forgery and boy, I could have used the money. One thing that I find interesting is that the check was mailed from a New Jersey address and the "orphanage" that I was to wire the money to was also a New Jersey address. I was leary from the get go and thanks to the "if it seems to good to be true" advice everyone has heard and a fantastic bank teller, I was able to avoid definate financial ruination. I can't even afford to pay attention, not to mention funding an orphanages toy spree!
I hope my tale is helpful to others. I have been leary about Craigslist jobs since then. Oh, I am still desparate for a job and money, but I have a Mr. Miagi type wisdom now. So, until next time: wax on, wax off friends.

The 2010 Winter Olympics

I am a huge fan of the Olympics. I don't know why, I don't even have a desire to participate in most of the events. I just love watching them and I mean all of them. I have been taken with the pairs skating as of late and, of course, rooted for the old Chinese couple. I am a supporter of the United States teams, but being a fan of the Olympics, I feel I am justified in supporting ALL teams. During the summer games, I was riveted to the television. It controlled my life. I am trying not to succumb to the pull of the games this winter, but I may be losing my battle. Tomorrow they are televising the curling event and I am stoked about watching it. I know next to nothing about this sport, but I am enthralled. And so it goes, I have become an Olympaholic. Lord, I hate the withdrawal!

Weather and the Rock

Tomorrow a huge storm is supposed to pommel the area around my house. This would include rain, snow and the dreaded: ice. So far today, the weather people have changed their forcasts 5 times, but we are trying to prepare for the worst. Tomorrow, before D-day, I will buy a fresh gallon of milk and make sure my DVDs, books and games are all ready for possible school closing and bored kids! The last bit of bad weather had us preparing for at the least 2 inches of snow--we got maybe, 3 flakes! I wonder what job qualifications one has to have to tell people what the weather is going to do. A friend of mine, schooled in Arkansas folk stuff, told me once that if the squirrels were fat, it was going to be a bad winter.
For those who aren't familiar with Little Rock, Arkansas, snow and ice are really a bad thing. There are no level, straight streets in this city. Everything is hilly and curvy. When the conditions are bad, this place closes down. In 2000, there was an ice storm and it took months to get things back to normal. Now, everytime winter weather is predicted, the natives panic. All I know is that if the weather does take a turn for the icey worst, I will be staying at home with my husband, kids and some form of entertainment. Popcorn anyone!

graffiti

My children attend private school. We are not wealthy, by any means, but the public schools in Little Rock are horrible specifically the middle,junior and senior high schools. Our high school is Luthern High School and it is a fabulous diamond in the rough. I cannot believe the academics this small school provides and the faculty is top notch. Now, we are not the very cheapest private school, nor are we the most pricey-by far. We are proud of our school and work hard to pay for it and keep it maintained. This involves many volunteer hours that students and parents donate unselfishly. A couple of nights ago, our high school was graffitied. Some of it was the usual gang type wordage, but some bone head drew a picture of a penis. Trying to power wash this garbage off our school didn't help and we are trying to figure out how to get rid of the damage. Not only that, someone thinks it is humorous to shoot paint balls at the vehicles and school building. One of the teachers got his car paint bombed, but was fortunate enough to take care of it before it was ruined. Now these teachers are valueable and they struggle to conduct their lives as true role models for our teenagers. God knows they don't get paid enough. They can't afford such damage. I hate vandalism, always have. Laying waste to something that someone has worked hard to build or create is so very wrong. What is being taught to kids today that make these actions alright? Parents, wake up! Certainly you can't be proud of these little hoodlums! We are working very hard to save our school because we are having financial issues there. With a bad economy, attendence is down and it has been painful. We love this school and it is responsible for educating some fantastic, respectful kids. I wish justice could be served and the knotheads responsible would get some jail time and also community service time and a big kick in the ass. But, instead I will crawl in bed and hope a prayer will do some good. I am going to try and get some photos of the graffiti, but I am challenged with technology and it may never happen!
Have you got any graffiti anger issues? I used to think Son#'s graffiti spread throughout our house was the most disturbing I would ever come in contact with--not now!

moving on up the career ladder

Tomorrow could be the first day of the rest of my life, or not. Yes, I am stepping up in the world--not ready for the highrise apartment in the sky though. I am trying to leave the world of the lunch lady behind me--after 7 years, it is surprisingly easy to do. I could tell you stories that go on behind the scene of the school cafeteria world. Lunch ladies are a breed unto themselves. They are surviving, utilizing a skill and a talent. It is hot, sweaty work with a lot of criticism and few rewards. Not all lunch ladies should be lunch ladies. If you aren't able to work, learn, cook, clean or take direction, this is not the job for you. Also, if you want to look like a woman, this is not the job for you. Your hair is in a net, your nails cannot be lengthy or polished, your clothes are extremely not attractive, but functional! You are given menus to create that usually don't make much sense. And if the food isn't popular with the kids, guess who gets blamed? Yes, the ladies and men in white. I think one of the hardest things to get used to in the kitchen besides the burns is the amount of work that has to be crowded into a short time. Arriving to work at 7:30 am, you get from that time until 10:00 to have the food cooked, panned up and ready to go because the little darlings eat at 10:00. Some menu items are easy to get through, it is just a matter of timing. Others are butt kickers. I have noticed over the years I was employed at this job, new hires (which are few) are not ready to do the work. If they get through the cooking part, the cleaning part eats their lunch. I would not be surprised if the dish machine that cleans all the trays used by the kids has not been adequately cleaned in over a month. A person is rotated weekly through the job schedule. When it is a person's turn to do baking, they are also responsible for washing trays and cleaning the dishroom. Every time my baking rotation came about, it took me at least 2 days of scrubbing the machine to get it clean. If a health inspector were to examine it now, he would probably find so much food residue left in the improperly cleaned machine, it would be a health violation. It is by this time really gross. What makes this job tough is that it is over at 1:30 pm. There is no overtime and unless you stay you rarely get a chance to clean properly. If you are short handed for the day, and this happens often, you can forget about doing a great job. The poor kitchen managers have to deal with rotten attitudes and workers who are worthless. Considering that you do not even have to have a high school degree to do this job, you can understand why the help is not top notch. I would like to offer kudos to my two Mabels. Mabel Hardin my great manager who was railroaded by a horrible principal and Mabel Forresterr, the best cook and trainer and friend ever. When she retired, the profession was hurt. I am sure I will talk about my Mabels another time. I admire them and respect them for all they have done with their lives when the odds were not in their favor. I have been a lunch lady for the last 7 years and have resigned my position. It is now time to move on and I am looking forward to it. My rheumatologist is most happy with my decision. My knees feel better already. Have you ever had a crappy job and finally were able to reap the reward of quitting the job?