Wednesday again

Well, I realize I posted last Wednesday, so it's been a whole week without too much change, but it sure seems like I've been busy every second. I had another interview for my most attractive job yesterday, so now I wait for feedback. Grandpa came to town to pick up his new glasses, and we went out to dinner at Mary's. As usual, I got the mushroom burger, ate half with my salad, and have the rest in the fridge for today. Yum! Then we watched a silly movie called Fool's Gold, which was lighthearted and predictable - perfect. It's so hard to go to sleep when you've just watched a movie that is scary or heartwrenching. No problem there with this movie.

There are a couple photos of Dean on the Mt. Gilead website. This one looks like they are having lots of fun. It must have been taken Sunday night. I am really looking forward to picking him up Saturday morning. There are so many things that need to be done before school starts, and it's hard to believe it's almost here. Besides buying new/bigger shoes and clothes, I have to cut his hair too. We plan to cut it the day before school starts. It's been funny to see how many of the kids are "rebelling" with their hair this summer. Dean's is long, as are some of the others, and Dylan has a mohawk. I figure it's only hair and it's temporary, so no big deal. I am much more concerned with their hearts than their hairstyles. Plus, I think it looks good. (OK, maybe I'm a little rebellious too.)

Enough babbling; back to work.

Another day, but not another dollar

Well, we're back to Monday and my son is back at camp. I took him to Mt. Gilead yesterday with an old friend and his mom, they took their stuff to the cabin, waved good-bye and walked to the pool. We were dismissed! What old fuddy-duddies we must be. I know they're having a good time, as they always do. The theme this year is Uncle Gil's Barnyard Fiasco, which sounds like it will be crazy and dirty. Hmmm - maybe I want to bring some plastic sheeting for them to sit on in the car coming home. Did I mention that he had a great time at that dance last week at Donner Mine? They did a random "time out" thing, where all the campers went back to their counselor for head count, so it was very well controlled with no wandering off. Good thinking, huh?

Dan & Patty came over for dinner last night, so we BBQed and played washers and had some fun. That was nice, a good way to relax and end a crazy week. Now today I'm trying to get some stuff done. I'm beginning to think I don't have time to work! How did we ever get it all done when there were three kids at home? Maybe I was younger and more energetic then. In fact, I'm sure of it.

OK, no more dawdling. Back to work.

Happy Saturday

Well, we went to Donner Mine yesterday, heard some amazing music and brought the kids home. They both said "I want to go back next year", so I guess they really did have a good time. There were about 100 kids there, all of whom were in the concert band, and many of them did secondary music activity too. Dean took theory, and he started composing a new song. Megan took choir and had a couple solos in the concert. Some of the kids grouped up for small ensembles, duets and such. All the groups sounded really great; the entire concert was about 2 1/2 hours long. What a great group of people. On the way up, we parents went to Grass Valley and found the Main Street Cafe, where we had a delicious lunch. It was an old building with the original brick walls and some murals on the interior sheetrocked walls. Very cool, and the food was fabulous. We actually arrived at the camp somewhat early (but we were not the first parents) so we wandered around a bit and claimed some good seats for the concert. Next year, we'll remember to bring seat cushions, though. They talked about 2 hours of the way home, made some new friends, learned a lot of music, and absolutely loved it - but boy, was it good to see them. I think he has grown another inch taller this week.

I did call on that job, decided to at least pursue the possibility of commuting, since it's apparent that I won't be driving any less than 20 minutes anyway. I will meet with the general manager of the company early in the week, hopefully Monday, get more information and see if I'm the right fit for the position.

So Allen is riding with a friend and Dean and I are hanging out together today. I've always loved spending time with my child, but now we have discussions instead of just talking. He's growing up so fast it amazes me. We are going to get everything unpacked and cleaned, then repacked so he can go to Mt. Gilead tomorrow. It's strange to think he'll be gone for another week right away, but he loves going every year and I wouldn't want to keep him from it. (I am hoping, though, to get him back with no injuries this time. He still has a tender spot from the BMX incident last year!) We will go over all his stuff for school; hard to believe that it all starts so soon. I think we have most everything, but we do need to find some jeans that fit and he has nothing to wear on chapel days except the khakis we stole from Allen's closet for him to wear to Joe's wedding. Bigger shoes will be on the list, too. And running shoes for PE. I think I need to make a list!

Prayers of thanks for a safe and wonderful week the kids had; prayers for safety while Allen & Dan are riding; prayers for my friends and family; prayers for the life I love. I'm saying them all, and more.

Two interviews today

OK, it was a banner day. I had two interviews - amazingly enough, the two jobs I find most attractive so far. The downside? Both require a drive. So what I need to think about is this: Do I have any options at all in my current loop? Nope, because there is no place to work near either home or school, so no need to spend any more time on that one. So, next question: How much would it cost me to commute, because it seems sure that I will be driving somewhere farther than my ideal of not at all? Allen says I need to get a smaller car (but you know I love my car) and he's probably right. What would the job need to be and what would it need to pay to make a commute worthwhile? And how much would I have to rely on friends to get the boy home for me? That seems a lot to ask, and I apparently need to find someone to carpool him to school with. Hmmm... Not that I have an offer yet, but I do need to decide if I want to pursue these or keep looking. I have to call one back tomorrow morning, so will spend the evening thinking, talking, and praying. Might have to do that with a glass of wine in hand.

The good thing is that we leave tomorrow morning to head up to pick up Dean. We are planning to go have lunch in Grass Valley with our best friends, and then wander around some until late afternoon, then head over to the camp, have a picnic dinner, attend the concert, and drive back. With a little luck, we'll be able to sleep late on Saturday!

Halfway through the week

OK, it's official. I miss the boy. You know, the 14-year-old, 5'7" tall, 125-pound, size 10 shoe, little boy. I miss the bedtime prayers and talks, the non-stop eating that is followed by "I'm not hungry", and I even miss the eye rolling - and the laugh that comes next after I've seen him do it. I'm really looking forward to the concert on Friday night and bringing him home, even if it's only for one day before he goes away for another week. Won't be long now before he starts spending all his time doing homework and we won't see him much then, either, but at least he'll be home (some).

Still job searching. I know the right thing is out there and I just have to find it. I interview tomorrow for one that sounds interesting, and people are starting to contact me with ideas. Allen says to put the word out on my network, but I don't know many people looking to hire right now. We'll find out, though, won't we? Keep those prayers and wishes coming.

I guess it's all relative.

OK, the test results. I still type 70 words per minute, but I made 2 mistakes, so drop that down to 68. I had some trouble with the MS Office testing, in that I kept wanting to do what it told me to do and it kept asking "Are you done with this question?" instead of taking my keystrokes. Nevertheless, I got a 91% on Word, but I stunk on Excel with a 78%. When I got the email response back from the recruiter, though, she said I did great, and that the national average for XL is 65%. I guess I feel better, because I really did know how to do almost everything they asked me to do (I just couldn't make it work faster than the pop-up), but on the other hand, I was appalled to only get a 78, which equals C+ in grading language. So, maybe I am much more qualified than most of the other applicants, which is a good thing for me and a bad thing for local employers in general. On the other hand, all I have received today are 4 emails from different companies wanting me to do insurance sales and direct sales is definitely NOT my gift.

I'm feeling pretty unwanted. Maybe this is supposed to teach me patience. Ya think?

Monday, Monday

Well, it's a new day in a new week, and it still feels odd. Dean is gone to Donner Mine Music Camp for a week. We took him and Megan up there yesterday (not a bad drive, just 3 hours going up and a little longer coming back) and left them at audition time. Auditions for placement, not for acceptance. They are accepted already, obviously, or we wouldn't have left them there. They have a concert Friday at 6:00, then we drive home late and do all the laundry Saturday so he can leave Sunday for Mt. Gilead for a week. Busy boy! It should be a great experience for them both. The place is VERY rustic and funky, literally an old mining camp, but the people all seemed so nice and kids were sitting in every available spot practicing and warming up for their auditions. The days are broken up into pieces, most having to do with music practice of some sort, but they have some free time every afternoon and "camp fire" activities every night. Wednesday they bus them out to a nearby lake for swimming and then have a dance on Wednesday night. Dean says "I just don't see the point of a dance at camp", but we'll see if he feels differently when he gets home. I reminded him that he had seen the original Parent Trap, which may have been an error on my part. He didn't seem any more convinced that it was a good thing. Now that I think about it, maybe the dance scene in that movie wasn't so great, after all, as a comparison. Oops!

I just spent an hour with the newlyweds. Joe & Ashley came by to pick up their gift and visit for a while before they went home. They had a good time in Maui, although Joe is peeling on his back from all that snorkeling time. Ashley had her first-ever plane ride and said the descent into Maui was pretty bumpy, so I don't think she was all that thrilled, probably won't sign up to be a frequent flier quite yet. They were pretty much sat on by the people in front of them on the plane when their seats were inclined, so felt like flying sardines. They had one very expensive dinner out, some great snorkeling trips to Molokini, etc., and have some fun stories. All honeymoons should have at least one thing that goes wrong, don't you think, so the memories bring laughter later. (Mine has to do with sand fleas, but that's another story, if you haven't heard it.) Anyway, it was nice to visit with them. I added the link to Ed's photos on the lower right, if you want to see some pics of the wedding weekend.

OK, back to the real world now. I have been emailed some pre-employment testing that I can do online. Half of me hopes it is easy so I breeze through it all; the other half hopes it is harder than the batch I took on Friday morning. Those were so ridiculously simple that it was almost condescending. I hate to think there are people applying for any type of office jobs who can't pass them. Most of them were questions that could be on "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" and probably very few of them would be labeled as 5th grade questions. If that is indicative of our graduates as a whole, we should be worried. Does it sound like I'm stalling here? I think I must be. Off to test, and hope the phone doesn't ring, because once I start, I can't stop until I'm done because it's timed. Wish me luck! Again!

It's very strange to be looking for work.

OK, I admit it. I think it's weird to be job hunting. I've always been the one who got the "Come work for me" phone calls. Most of them I didn't go to, but a couple I did. I worked at Dr. Ramsey's office for so long that, when we were closing last year, I thought maybe I'd do something different. If I went back to school and got my certificate in Resource Development, I could work for a non-profit and put all those years of volunteer work to good use as experience. Well, I did, and that was fun; then I worked at the school for a year, and that was fun, but now it's over and I've cleaned out my office. So now I'm suddenly searching for a job, along with thousands of other people. And looking for a job IS a full-time job! You don't just look in the paper anymore. Now you have to search every website there is and hope you find something that is right for you in your own town. There are tons of jobs out there and you just have to wade through all the ones that are labeled as what you're looking for, but are really something else. Truck driving is not an administrative assistant job! Really - I'm absolutely sure of it! I don't know if I should go back into the medical field, try for another school job, look at other non-profits, or something entirely different. I'm thinking I could use some answers here.

Anyway, I met with two different recruiters today, and actually felt very good about one of them. She seemed to understand me and what I can do and what I want to do, and she has a possible opening to consider me for. Then I got a phone call to go for an interview next week. Yippee! At least that's something that feels like a step forward instead of back.

I know that God has a plan for me, but I confess that I'm having a hard time waiting to find out what it is. I'm praying - and searching the internet!

I'm up and running (sort of)

Well, based on my friend Katy's blog, I finally came in and set this one up. I answered some questions and chose a photo of myself and my husband and didn't get much farther than that. It's a nice diversion, but what I really need to do today is get some work done. My nephew's wedding was Saturday and we had family here for several days. Every bed was in use, the couches were full, and there was an airbed on the floor, so it was a bit crazy - but, oh, what fun to be together! We laughed a lot, ate lots of good food, drank lots of good wine, and reconnected some who had drifted apart. It doesn't get much better than that. Anyway, they're all gone now and I have no excuse not to get some work done (you know, the kind that pays the bills). I have to go to the school and catch up on some paperwork and then come home and catch up on some more paperwork here. Wish me luck!