Happy Friday!

So I finally got the pic I was promised from when Lou came to visit ... Yay!!

I'm the one on the right ... and notice the haircut ... short isn't it? I love it short!

*****

I got an interesting piece of mail today ... not so much the contents, but the stamps. Some pretty old stamps ... a ten cent "first man on the moon" stamp, a 29 cent olympic skating stamp and a stamp of Cordell Hull (who the hull he is I don't recall). Somebody really dug deep into their collection to mail me this envelope. Turns out it was from a candidate in Tuesday's election. Someone I'm not voting for ... but gee, thanks for the stamps for my small stamp collection.

*****

I'll be soooooo glad when the elections are over. I don't know about you, but I'm really getting tired of all of the mud-slinging that the candidates do anymore.

*****

Safe and Happy Hauntings to all of my spooky friends!!

BFFs

Pics of my friends ...

Wednesday Stuff ...

So the interview went well. It was weird, two parts ... "R" did the first interview, "A" did the second. The first part was nothing more than several questions consisting of "name a time when something happened", that something being a select problem (mistake you made and didn't realize it until afterwards, a team work situation that didn't work well, a situation that arose out of an emergency, etc), how you handled it, and what the outcome was. The second interview was the same - only with a different person asking the same "name a time" questions. Weird. Very weird. You'd think that part A and part B would be different in some ways other than the interviewers.

So, I was told by "A" that I will receive a phone call tomorrow if I got the job, and a postcard in a few days if I am not hired.

Trying to think positive here. It was a pretty good interview ... and even with hiring only so many people (and interviewing prospective employees all day long) ... I feel good. I have a lot of experience, and made sure to mention that "my drawers are seldom off" ... meaning my cash drawers are rarely off balance ... even by a penny or so. Not a lot of cashiers can say that! They usually give a window of error of 25 cents (short or over) ... I never was off by a whole quarter.

"A" did ask an interesting question. "If you had to be over or under on your end of shift balance sheet which would you prefer and why" ... my response was "I'd rather be short. To be over would mean that I shorted a customer his proper change." From the look on his face, I'd say that was the right answer.

"R" seemed to love my comment about "retail is in my blood" ...

So ... I'll know by tomorrow night.

Keep crossing whatever ya'll have been crossing!! Please?!?!?!?

*****

And of course being today's Wednesday Alien calls. Seems she's always calling on Wednesdays to beg for some money. I lost it today. "I don't have a job, why do you think I'd have a ten or twenty to throw your way? Stop asking!! I don't have money for me, and I don't have money for you".

Well, not entirely true, I do have money for me, but it's staying in my wallet!! And I'm sure not going to be giving her any once I am employed. I will be working for me ... NOT for her and that deadbeat she's hooked up with.

But I have to approach this carefully once I am working. I may have to rely on her to get me to work or pick me up if Single Son and I have a car use conflict - which is bound to happen sooner or later. Or, I just thought of this, she can drive Single Son to and from work. Makes no never-mind to me. Just so we both get to where we need to be when we need to be there. Of course, she will get gas money ... but JUST gas money. I'm not paying taxi fares to her!! But that's in the future, right?

And as usual, I have to think about all contingencies. One of my downfalls.

 

Monday

Drats. I had a cute title for today's blog and forgot it by the time I logged on. Geesh.

They say the mind is the second thing to go. I forgot what the first was.

*****

Finally got a call-back from one of the trillions of places I've applied to. Okay, maybe not trillions, but it seems that way ...

I have my interview on Wednesday at 9 AM. But tomorrow (Tuesday) I have to go into the store to their computer kiosk to fill out part two of their application process. The hard part ... the psychological tests. You know the ones ... "what do you do if ... "... you're robbed?" (cooperate) "... if you see someone shoplifting?" (inform loss prevention) "... if you see a store associate take something?" (call a manager and/or loss prevention) ... etc. Only they never make the questions that cut and dry.

Now I'm not a dummy by any measure, but those tests have me questioning my ability to understand the English language by the time it's over. And definitely questioning my sanity, too!

So, I'll keep you posted on the progress this makes. And then I'll tell you who the company is ... I'm not gonna jinx it by saying who it is just now.

*****

I sold another textbook yesterday. Yay! One more down, lots more to go! I went to ship it off today. As I'm pulling into the store parking lot who do I see but the Wrecking Crew coming out of the store. Married Son comes up to where I'm parking and wants to chat for a few minutes. In his hands what do I see but the current edition of "Apartment Guide". Oh, could it be? They're finally looking? He's trying to hide it behind a copy of the truck buyer's guide, but he failed miserably. "Oh, so you're looking to move. When?" "I dunno." "Well make sure you pay me back what you owe me before you do". "Yes, Mother. You're my first priority"

Talk about sarcasm!! He wouldn't know priority or responsibility if it bit him in the arse.

But while we were talking ... DIL and Grandson were off at the back of my car. When I asked Son about when they were moving I swore I heard her say "Not soon enough".

And that's fine. She's not thrilled living here. And we all know how I feel about it, too. The sooner they move the better.

*****

The next two days are supposed to be pretty hairy around here. Storms and lots of high winds of upwards of 60 miles or more. Great. I hate windstorms anymore. I don't think I need to say why, LOL. Gonna be a loooooong few days around here!!

But with the job interview it won't be all that bad.

Right?

Wow, that was QUICK!

On October 15th I ordered that Sidetracked Home Executive book from amazon.com ... and it came today!! That was quick! A little too quick! It wasn't due in until November 8. I thought I had plenty of time to finish reading my FlyLady book before the new book arrived.

Ah well ... I've added it to the head of the queue of waiting-to-be-read books. It's an understatement to say it's a long queue - there's literally dozens of books on that list of waiting-to-be-read books ... and one day I'll actually have the time, peace and quiet to make a dent in it!

*****

So, Mom just called me to tell me about a job opening she'd read about in their local paper. They're looking for "mature, reliable workers". Mature, yup, that'd be me. It's a job in a donut shop. Great, just what I need ... my fat diabetic arse working in a sugary environment like that - talk about the need for will-power, eh? Single Son would love it, though. What's better than a cop having a family member work in a donut shop? One that's on his way into to work, no less. LOL.  I've worked for this company before (Tim Horton's). Not a bad place to work and speaking from experience the desire for sweets goes away after the first few days, LOL ... so tomorrow I go in and fill out an application. Not gonna take a resume with me, just my job history worksheet so I can fill in the app blanks.

Off line blog writing ...

Gotta love fall weather. One strong gust of wind and the power goes out. However briefly, but the internet still hasn't recovered, despite Single Son's numerous attempts to reset it.

Geesh. That damned Gremlin needs to turn the internet back over to us. Then I'll be able to actually submit my blog entry.

*****

I talked to Alien today. She definitely dropped out of her classes. She did talk to her teachers first, and will be allowed to retake the courses once she's gone through her parenting classes. So that's good news.

I haven't seen Butterball in two weeks now. I'm going through Butterball withdrawal!

*****

Since I can't access my blog right now, I don't remember if I blogged about Married Son's and my last argument about a week ago. So bear with me if this is a repeat ... we argued about responsibilities and priorities. Married Son must have felt he was fighting a losing battle so he pulls one of those panic maneuvers - power struggles really - and takes back the cell phone he'd been loaning me. Oh, like that's supposed to hurt me? Oy! Give me a break ... I'm not a kid ... taking something away that you loaned me isn't going to destroy me. Hell, he did me a favor as he had so many calls on that number I felt like I was nothing more than his secretary!

However, LOL, me being without a cell phone again has really freaked out my friend, Chicken. He hates that he can't get a hold of me - or that I am without a phone in case of emergencies on the road. So yesterday I get an email telling me he's buying me a cell phone and will pay for the service until I can afford to take over payments. Ummm, nope, no thanks! I prefer to avoid that obligation if at all possible ... the feeling that I'm indebted to him (especially him) for any reason. Don't get me wrong, he's a great friend, and I'd do almost anything for him. Almost anything.

Declining his offer was another matter ... he's one of those sensitive souls ... takes the answer *no thanks* personally. He's also one of those people who would give you his last slice of bread and go hungry so you don't. Or in this case, strain his budget on a cell phone for me. How to approach this without hurting his feelings? So after thinking about it for two days I decided (and told him) that if my cell phone problem doesn't resolve itself within the next month then I would take him up on his offer. He'll just have to be happy with calling the house phone for the time being. LOL. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Men!! This is why I have chosen to stay single. Who needs it? The fussing and freaking out because I am presently hard to reach or have no way of communication when I'm away from home, especially in the event of an emergency. Assuring him that even an inactive cell phone can dial 911 isn't helping.

Ah well ... I guess I should be tickled that someone (that I didn't give birth to) cares enough to bitch, eh?

*****

Finally! Internet is back! Thank you Gremlin. It's after 1 AM. I'm going to enter this, then head off to bed ... 

 

Saturday Stuff.

Okay, so I'm still lacking in creative titles for my blog. I'd say sue me, but the only things of any real value that I own you'd probably not want ... a depression era dollhouse (that has yet to be restored) and a fifty year old Gund teddy bear that has definitely seen better days ... but hey, after fifty years whom amongst us can say we haven't ourselves become a bit tattered and torn?

All kidding aside ... I really have no topic for today. Just a rambling session.

I talked to Single Son about our eventual move (remember, two to five years away yet), and asked if I should start looking for an apartment with a second bedroom for him. He said that all depends on what's going on in two years. True. He asked why I'm worried about it now, since it's so far in the future. In all honestly, the types of places I'll be looking for (low income mostly) have three and four years waiting lists. Well, that's for local places anyway ... once out of the metro Detroit area, rent is about half of what it is here, making low income rents a moot point.

It's definitely a case of you snooze you lose if you want to stay in the Tri-County area.

And I'm not sure I do. I'm looking primarily in the Marysville (Port Huron) area, or maybe even Alpena in Michigan's Northern Lower Peninsula area. Which has me rethinking my whole approach on job hunting, too. I need to get into a workplace that has locations in the cities I'm interested in - this way I can transfer when I'm ready to move. Then I can worry about if I want to stay employed wherever or apply to a local employer.

Yes, I'm anal when it comes to details ... I don't to anything spur of the moment ... I'm a planner. It's a fault of mine. A defective gene inherited from my Civil Engineer father ... who also analyzed things to death. Still does, but no where like he used to.

But all of my plans lay on if (or not) Single Son will be moving with me. And truth be told, I seriously don't think he wants to live on his own. He just isn't cut out to live alone. Never has been.

But that's between you and me. He'd deny it. Got that macho image to maintain, ya know?

*****

I just realized that I must really live a sheltered life. LOL. I'm a little too excited about that free book that's coming from Amazon.com soon. And that I earned the gift cards to buy it through a get-rewards-for-searching search engine (swagbucks) ... good grief! I really do need a life!

The book, by the way, is called "Sidetracked Home Executives - from pigpen to paradise". It's the original CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) to cleanliness system, pre-FlyLady ... in fact, Marla Cilley ( the FlyLady) was a S.H.E. who just couldn't follow the sometimes confusing system S.H.E. uses. She refined it into the FlyLady system. As they say, the rest is history. But FlyLady and S.H.E. work very closely together, a partnership, if you will.

FlyLady is more of the day to day challenges of getting out of CHAOS and setting daily and weekly routines  where S.H.E. details the monthly, seasonal, bi-annual and annual chores that the disorganized slob tends to overlook.

I figure this is the best time to finally get my act together. Screw the Wrecking Crew and their chaos and confusion. We're all going to be moving (some of us hopefully sooner than others) and now is the time to get it under control before the moving van comes. LOL. Having a game plan can only help in the long run.

Funny thing about the S.H.E. book ... I used to own one. I loaned it out to a friend many years ago. Never got it back. I'm sure she misplaced it somewhere between her frequent moves back then. And it's been revised in the last few years... what better excuse to get a new copy? LOL.

*****

I'm off ... time to do some searches on swagbucks. Gotta earn those swagbucks!! I have a wishlist for amazon.com that's a mile long ... yes, more FlyLady and S.H.E. books, some decorating books, some history books. Good grief! I need a life!!