Work, work, work

Alright. I have been through two days of training so far on the new job. Things are going really well so far. There's a lot of information to absorb, but I think I'm sponging it all up. Most of it, anyway. I'm in the Girls' section, which is toddlers to 16 year olds. I think they put me in that section because of my degree. Which strikes me as odd, as I said that I didn't WANT to work with kids. Oh well. No big deal at all, really.

On my first day back from work, I left around 5:15pm and got home a little after 6:00pm. Wow, rush hour traffic is horrible. It should only take half an hour from the time i get into my car, to the time I get out of it. Well, tonight, I left right at 6:00pm (after buying some new shoes) and I didn't have to slow down once on the freeway. That was great. Not saying that I will hang around work for an hour after I get off the clock to avoid the traffic...but if I can spend half the time in the car, that might help.

We'll see how the rest of the week goes. Until then!

Next post - Halloween party pictures.

Trying this out

I'm going to try to post a video on here. Let's see if this works. I got the clip from CuteOverload dot com

This poor fellow! He doesn't know what's going on. But he does know this: whatever it is feels GREAT.

http://view.break.com/388549 - Watch more free videos

RAWR!

Oh, you're going to love this! After almost a week of driving around to textile stores, Wal*Mart, Target, and various other places, my Halloween costume is finally finished! I finished putting the claws on the feet and hands, along with making the ears and sewing them to the headband, and attaching the tail to the pants.

I'm going to be the cutest rabid bear ever. I just need to figure out how to do the face painting for a nose. Shouldn't be too hard. Here's some pics!


Okay, the costume all put together.


And these are my hands, encased in fur, with little felt claws that I painstakingly sewed on myself all afternoon today. Okay, so it probably only took an hour or so...but whatever. It was all hand crafted!

Costume

So the overall idea for Halloween this year is that I am a bear, and Aaron is a lumberjack. His costume should be easy enough; all we have to find him is some suspenders, he has the rest. I haven't been able to find a bear costume to save my life, either on the internet, or in any stores. So I will resort to making one of my own.

The plan is this:
brown track pants or sweatpants
brown hoodie
felt for bear tummy and ears
faux fur for leg and arm warmers
brown shoes
ears and a tail

I'm going to start working on this tomorrow by finding some fabric and fur and the pants and top. I'll also start looking for some suspenders for Aaron. The party is on Saturday, and should be a lot of fun.

Jill was over from Fargo to visit for the weekend. We carved pumpkins, showed Jill where Aaron works 'cause it's a pretty cool building, and that was about it. We weren't too exciting, but it was fun. That's what happens when you have no money. We have friends from Spearfish coming to visit this weekend for a concert, so that should be fun, as well. I also start working at my new job on Monday, but hopefully I will hear from the insurance company this week. I'm going to give them a call or send an email tomorrow about the resume, just to make sure they got it.

And that's about it for now.

Pumpkins!

Here's the Jack O' Lanterns that Aaron, Jill, and I made this year.


From left to right: Mine, Aaron's, Jill's.

OMG Ponies!!!!!1!!1!!!

That's how I feel right now. Like a little girl seeing ponies. I'm so happy right now. I woke up around 10am and heard my phone beeping in the living room. Someone had called me. After checking my message, which was from Von Maur saying to call them back, I was a little excited, but not terribly, especially when I talked to the lady. She just wanted to ask if I had any more questions after talking to Beth and Katie, the two girls who interviewed me over this week. I couldn't think of any, except to wonder if you HAD to wear hosiery, or if you could wear those cute socks with argyle print on them. Unfortunately, no argyle socks for me.

But then she said that Beth and Katie seemed to enjoy meeting with me, and they wanted to offer me a job in the Girls' department! WOO HOO! Of course I accepted right away. I don't start until the 29th of October because that is when they have their next training session is. I know that's over a week away, but we've been barely making it this long, what's another 10 days now, after almost two months?

So yay! I am gainfully employed! Bringing home the bacon! Now I can get my new cell phone and number, pay off those bills, and get a kitteh! Oh happy day.

stuff.

I had my second job interview at Von Maur today. I think it went well, but I can never tell. I always think it goes well, and I still don't have a job. So maybe it didn't. Who knows. She said she'd let me know within the week if I got the job. Also, on Friday, I should hopefully hear from the insurance place that Aaron's co-worker hooked me up with. And then on Monday I have my interview at Famous Footwear. I really hope that I hear from Von Maur before then, or that Famous Footwear doesn't make a decision right way. Because I know I'd be making more money at Von Maur, but I don't want to tell Famous Footwear "no" if I don't know about Von Maur. Frustrating. What I'm REALLY hoping for is the insurance place.

My birthday was less than spectacular, but not bad. Aaron didn't get home from work 'til about 6:30pm. We left the house after 7pm for Red Lobster because I was in the mood for seafood. I had a pound of crab legs for dinner. Delish. Aaron had a shrimp trio - scampi, breaded, and Alfredo. Then we went home because it was 9pm and everything closes down early in Minnesota. I got a new iPod Nano from my parents, the red one. I managed to upload my entire library to it. Which means I have less than 8Gs of music on my computer. It's quite nice and tiny. I think I will get a lot of good use out of it, just like my Mini.

I finished the baby blanket, a hat, and booties for Aaron's co-worker who helped me with my resume on Monday. I'll have Aaron take it into work tomorrow morning after I get it wrapped up with some decorative cords I need to knit up when I get done doing this.

So, that's it for now. More news when I find out about a job. Adios.

opportunities

So I went in for my interview at Von Maur this afternoon. It went well, and I was asked back for a second interview that is going to be on Wednesday. That's a pretty good thing, I think, and I am looking forward to it.

Before I went to the interview, I was emailing a co-worker of Aaron's for help on my resume. Aaron's co-worker is married to a woman who works for an insurance company, and they are looking for someone to deal with insurance claims. Experience is not necessary, and apparently, they train you really well. Also, this job usually starts people out around $40,000 per year, which is twice the amount I have made at ANY former job. If I could get that job and make that money, Aaron and I would have NO financial troubles and be able to pay off our bills.

Aaron's co-worker and I emailed ideas and my resume back and forth, and Aaron says he spent quite a bit of time helping me today. He also came up with a brilliant idea. His co-worker is expecting a baby tomorrow (on my birthday, no less), and Aaron thought it would be a good idea if I could do something nice for them as a thanks for all the help. I instantly thought of making a blanket, and I think that's what Aaron was thinking, too, because he agreed right away. So tomorrow I am going to find a Wal*Mart (as the Targets around here don't carry yarn) and get some yarn for the baby blanket. Aaron's going to try to find out if they know if it's a girl or a boy, so I can buy accordingly. If they're not sure or he can't find out, I'll go with greens and yellows, I think. Maybe some orange, too, since the baby will be born in the fall, and that's a nice autumny color.

Also, another friend has a friend who works for corporate Target, and this friend is going to put in a referral for me tomorrow. So it looks like I might have a lot of options coming up soon. Which is better than having no options coming up at all. Better, but more confusing.

Even though it's my birthday tomorrow, I have no idea what we're going to do. I've been trying to find something in the theater area of Minneapolis, but nothing interesting seems to be playing. We might just end up going out to dinner or something. Who knows. I'll be 25 tomorrow; a quarter of a century! I don't feel that old, that's for sure. Actually, it doesn't even feel like tomorrow is going to be my birthday. Hmmm. I wonder if that's a bad thing?

Well...by the time I've finished this, is has turned into Tuesday, my birthday. Although, technically, I wasn't born 'til 9am, so I have a little bit of time left. Goodnight!

at last?

Last night, Aaron and I went to hang out with Nathan and Natalie because Nathan's birthday is coming up, and he had a little party with all his friends. Natalie and I got to talking, and she asked how the job hunt was going. I told her it was looking dismal, and she told me about this place called Von Maur that was hiring seasonal employees to get ready for the holidays, and that they pay $11.00 per hour to start off. She also had an application for the store with her, and said that I could have it if I wanted. She wasn't going to use it herself, and knew that I might like to apply.

So I filled out the application this morning, and Aaron and I went off to do our Saturday ritual; lunch, kitties, and picking up his car from downtown. Along with all that, we stopped at the mall where the Von Maur is and dropped off the application. They asked if I had time to speak to a manager, so I did, and I now have an interview set up for this Monday the 15th.

I'm really hoping that I get the job. Not because I think I will like it, but because of the obvious. We're broke as hell. Von Maur is a super fancy store like JC Penney or Macys, only higher end. In the mall this one is in, there are two floors to the store, a piano player on the main floor, and it looks pretty nice. Things are expensive and high quality, but basically, it'd be like working at a Penneys store. No big deal, I can handle that.

So thanks to Natalie I have that to look forward to on Monday. I also have an interview set up the next Monday, the 22nd, at Famous Footwear. It's closer to home, but I doubt pays near as much. Also, I put in the application on Tuesday, the manager looked at it on Wednesday, but I never heard from her. So I called on Friday, and she said that she wanted to set up an interview, but that it would have to wait until the 22nd because she was going on vacation. Why couldn't she have called earlier, then? Who knows.

My birthday is coming up on Tuesday the 16th. The big two five for me. Woooo! Maybe my car insurance rates will go down now. I'll give 'em a call. Plus, Jill is coming over next weekend to visit, and Brandon and Austin are coming over the weekend after that to visit, AND we're going to a Halloween party. Sounds like a good time to me!

postal service

This is a letter I received in the mail today (I blurred out the address, so that's not why I'm surprised I got it).




There was nothing in it. It looks like it was dropped in a puddle and then ran over a few times with a car. Not to mention it was completely opened (only two of the four sides were sealed still), and there was nothing in it. Wonderful.

I called the bank, because I think it's the same handwriting that was on the envelope for the letter that told me I didn't get the job at the bank I interviewed at a couple weeks ago. The lady who interviewed me wasn't there, so I left a message on her voicemail. She'll be back on Monday.