Great News!

Clearly, I do not come and post often enough. That "new job" only lasted two weeks. They lost one of their major contracts and let go of all their temp workers and some of their permanent employees.

So with the exception of two weeks, I've been out of work since September.

Until this afternoon!

I interviewed at a KinderCare location yesterday and was disappointed that they only talked to me for a few minutes. But a few hours after the interview, a different (locally owned) day care called me in for an interview. I met with them this morning, and this afternoon they called and offered me a job. As long as I pass my background check, I start tomorrow!

I got a great vibe from this place. They're "education focused" versus just being a place to leave your kids. They're not looking to hire a babysitter for the kids, but someone with a passion for kids and learning, who really wants to be there and work with them. Sounds perfect to me! I'll be working primarily with the toddlers, but will have some interaction with the infants as well.

I'm so excited! If I can't design houses for a living, I can't think of a better substitute than being with kids.

One day left

I only have one more "work day" off before I start my new job. I've been greatful for the time off. I know it has been a stress on Lucas because we haven't had as much money, but it has been good for me, emotionally, to be out of work and have a reduced stress level for awhile. It's really made a difference in my depression. These last couple of months I have felt much more relaxed. I have mixed feelings about starting the new job. I know that I need to work and help provide for my family, and I'm glad that I was at least able to find another drafting position and I'm not being forced back into retail. I have to admit that I'm not looking forward to going back to work. I have absolutely no interest in the company or line of work that I'll be going into and I'm really not looking forward to working with Microstation. But alot of people work jobs they don't like. And taking this job is better than going back to retail. It could be a lot better, but it could also be a lot worse. Taking the job allowed me to join a fitness center this week, which will help me to reach my weight loss goals. Taking this job may mean that we can actually afford to go on a honeymoon. Taking the job was the right thing to do, I just hope that somewhere down the road another opportunity will come along that I'm more interested in.

Happy 2009

My wonderful fiance got me an awesome Christmas present. I've been visiting with my mom in Pennsylvania for the past few days, and I'll be here with her until Friday afternoon. Friday afternoon, I'll head back to the train station to catch my amtrak train back home. I'll be home early Saturday morning.

Next week, I'll need to go down to the temp agency to fill out some paperwork before I start my new job, and Colleen will get a much needed haircut and a good bath. Since I'm going back to work, I'd really like to join a gym again and I found one that has several locations nearby and they're offering a New Year's special. The enrollment fee is only 20.09 instead of 150. I'm thinking about pre-paying for 6 months instead of paying monthly, because it's cheaper that way. Monthly rates are $35. Pre-paying for 6 months takes it to an average $30/month.

I've been having a good time visiting my mom, but I'm looking forward to going back home, too. I miss Lucas and my puppy dogs. I enjoyed the train ride up to Pennsylvania, so I am looking forward to the train ride back. It was much more comfortable than the bus or a plane. I'd definitely take amtrak again.

No longer unemployed

Everyone's wish that I would get a job for Christmas has come true. I wish I could say I was happy about it, but the truth is that I am extremely depressed. When I was in school, I had to take a class to learn a cad program called Microstation. I left the class saying that nobody could ever possibly pay me enough to be willing to accept a microstation job. I hate the program that much. Well, guess what? Not only did I accept a job working in microstation, but I'm taking a signficant pay cut to do it.

For those who are interested in the details, the company does drafting work in the telecommunications field for clients like AT&T. I start on January 19th.

I should be in a great mood today. Our foster pup is arriving tonight and I've been looking forward to tonight for days. I also got a package in the mail today. The corgi and collie Christmas ornaments that I bought from etsy arrived and they're adorable. The artist made the corgi custom for me, with Ein's coloring.

However, none of that seems to matter. I know I should be greatful to have found a job. We need the money. But I can't get past how depressed I am about taking a 25% pay cut in order to work a job that I'm not interested in, using software that I despise. I feel like a selfish brat for being so depressed about the job.

We did it again!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Lucas helped me cook and we had a great turkey breast - the best I've ever made thanks to the marinade I injected it with. Lucas helped me make some homemade macaroni and cheese with cheddar, queso, and a bit of mozzarella that I had leftover in the fridge. We also had some texas toast and cranberry sauce. For dessert, peach cobbler (a frozen one) with vanilla ice cream and fat free cool whip.

Needless to say, I don't want to know how many calories I ate. I decided this morning that Ein and I should walk all the way to the top of Kennesaw Mountain again, to make up for all that extra food yesterday. The park was busy. We had to park on Old 41, on the side of the road, because the lot was full. Not sure how much of it was the extra distance and how much of it was just me being slower, but it took us 45 minutes to get to the top instead of 40. I decided to try taking the trail down instead of the road. I had never done it before, and wasn't sure exactly how to do it, but there were tons of other people out, so I just followed them. It was alot quicker than taking the mountain road. It took us about 25 minutes to follow the trail down. It's a bit shorter in distance (about .2 mile), but it's also steeper, so I'm not sure if it would be any quicker going up, since it would be more strenuous. Now that I know how the trail goes, we'll have to try that the next time I want to go up to the top of the mountain.

I had two interviews this week with staffing centers, one resulted in an interview with the company. I should hear early next week whether they want a second interview or not, and whether or not the second company wants to meet with me. Monday morning, I'm meeting with yet another staffing center about an application I put in. I've been getting more attention that usual lately, which is a good sign. My unemployment is just about half up, so I'm glad that I'm getting some more interest.

It's hard to believe that it's been 2 months since I lost my job with Phillips. Time is just disappearing. Is it really almost the end of November? Is it really less than a week away from my birthday? Almost time to start the last year of my 20's? Nine months from the wedding? Someone please tell me where the heck time has gone.