a new low....

as you may have gathered i am in the market for a new job. one that i don't loathe with all of my being. i'd settle for mild hate at this point....


i complained that my job description (given to me 10 months after i was hired) said that a GED was preferred but not required. i thought that was bad until i read this.....


(this was taken from a realtors website - they are need of a receptionist)
"Knowledge, skill and mental development equivalent to the completion of high school."




what?

Bone Broke

as you may have gathered from the previous post i am not in the best of moods. i'm extremely frustrated.

frustrated because....

- i did what i was supposed to, right? i went to college. i earned a degree. i got a full time job with benefits. but after all my bills are payed each month i have basically nothing left over for food or gas.

- i haven't been able to help chris out with the rent. it makes me feel awful. i feel like a huge mooch.

- banks charge me $68.00 dollars for a measly $10.00 'oops adventure' into the negative.

- i just realized that i pay almost a hundred dollars in interest per car payment. wtf??

- i have to start a 401k and an IRA - but with what exactly i'm not sure....

- my paychecks are basically gone the day i get them.

- my mouth is falling apart and insurance will only cover half the costs. granted it's half and i'm thankful but i cannot afford the other half.

- my phone is dying. i need a new one. too bad my money tree died.

it's just so damn irritating. and the whole crap of it is is that i was just coming to terms with it. fine. i'll have debt. at least i'm happy. i have a great family and friends and with them i'll never end up homeless. but this whole taking almost seventy fucking dollars out of my account just pushed me over. i needed that to pay bills. needed it.

i have a car payment each month. i have insurance on that car. i have my own insurance. i have a credit card payment (which i had to get in the first place becuase i couldn't afford to pay my car insurance while i was looking for a job). i have a computer payment. and yes - after this i have about $30 left over. $30 to buy gas, groceries, and oh yeah - start that 401K and IRA with. seriously....

how the crap am i ever going to be able to afford a house. a wedding. a baby. - hell - food. gas.

i need to make more money. i need to look for a job that pays more money. but oh yeah - can't fit into the my interview clothes yet! and oh yeah - can't buy more interviews clothes that fit becuase i'm fucking broke.

piss it.

updates

hello all!

i don't have a real agenda in my posting tonight. at least no organized agenda. i also have no pictures to post which is slightly annoying to me because i'm rather obsessed with having a picture per post.

hmmm...where to start.....

kitty update:
my friend becca is the process of asking a friend of hers is they can adopt my cats. i hope to hear back from her by tomorrow. if that plan doesn't work then i have a plan B.

plan B involves chris and i going up to duluth this saturday. after talking with my mother the topic of a kennel came up again. it was something we had talked about before but my dad wasn't up to building one and neither was a friend of my mom's that she tried to hire for the job. so chris said 'that'd be easy!' and we shall see if he's right :) we've drawn up some plans based on the only cat kennel i've ever seen and which belonged to my friend kari (hi kari!). so hopefully all goes well and the kitties will have a new home out in the garage by monday!

if that doesn't work then despite protests from chris i'm taking albus and sneaking him into his no pets apartment.

oh - and before any of this plan was hatched we were as you can imagine desperate. i had gotten a note from my friend kari (hi again!) and my memory failed me as to what it said. i thought it said she could take the cats but she lives all the way in Ohio. i later re-read the message and realized it said she'd be glad to take them but she lives in a place that doesn't allow them. oops. anyhow - my mom was willing to give me the money to drive down to ohio to give the kitties to kari! craziness!


job update:
i still have no job. i still have no money. i barely have enough money to purchase gas to drive to interviews - gas is now almost $3 a gallon! holy shit.

i did have 3 interviews this week. two were for temp agencies that are currently sending out my resume. hopefully i will hear back from them soon. i've never done temp work and am a little uneasy about the uncertainty of it all. i'd prefer to have a full time job no strings but i'll obviously take anything i can get!

one interview was for a job that i would really really like. full time receptionist. i should hear back from this by tomorrow or monday (keep your fingers crossed for me!). it seems they need a new receptionist - although i have no idea why.....

i arrived for the interview and saw no one at the front desk. so i saw someone else standing nearby who asked if they could help me. i said yes that i had an interview. she told me to go the front desk - i still didn't see anyone there but walked over anyhow. when i got closer i realized that the receptionist was slouched down very low in her chair and fast asleep! i was completely taken aback! i said 'hello' - no response. so i just stood there awkwardly for a few moments until she finally awoke. needless to say if was very awkward and weird....can't imagine why they are interviewing for a new one.....


working out update:
i'm lazy. i try but i'm lazy. what else is new, right? chris and i did go for a walk around lake elmo today (3.7 mi) - very beautiful! so at least i 'grooved' my body for a little bit. that allows me the papa murphy's pizza and chocolate chip cookie dough, right? i thought so :)


travel update:
i'm still planning on going to ohio this summer. i was super excited about it. then i read my friend carrie's blog and found out they just bought tickets for a trip to sweden. my trip now seems sadly lame in comparison.

hair update:
i think in the last month i may have mentioned more than once how poor i am. this means i cannot afford to maintain my hair. my bangs are going to cover my face soon and my eyebrows have a mind of their own. seriously...cross those fingers for me in hopes i get a freaking job.

dog update:
i dog sat for my friend kelly this past week. (i still have to post pictures of their wedding but i don't have access to my photo shop. if you are interested check out molly's - the maid of honor - page. she has a much nicer camera!)

'the log' as i'm fond of calling their dog - loggerhead - is a cute cute cute HYPER little poop machine. prior to receiving this little bundle of joy i found out that he ate an entire leather journal cover. then upon entering my (well...kristin's) home he promptly tore into moose's dog food bag and ate two large bowls worth. needless to say that combined with the excitement/nervousness of a new place made for a not happy tummy. after shitting on kristin's white carpet he got me up every 40 minutes that first night. i wanted to throw him out the window. unless i gave birth to it - i should have to get up that often for anything. he did settle after the second night and all was good. moose and he got along just fine and we had fun taking them to the dog park a lot. we did discover that the log likes to hump - and he isn't picky. butt...head...he'll hump it. 4 times his size? no problem! it was funny to see :)

i also found out that chris gets to dog-sit for a nattie in a month or so! i love that dog :)


dinner update:
chris will be home soon and so will the chicken and herb Mediterranean pizza - so it's time go!

Here Comes the Sun!

It's been awhile - but the sun finally decided to return. Well, it might have returned yesterday but I was too busy being lazy inside to really notice.....


I did, however, make it out today and it was gorgeous! Chris and I took Nattie for a walk. Nattie belongs to Anne but her and her family are out of town this week and so Chris is watching her. She is adorable and so well behaved - she makes this cat lover want to get a puppy!

nattie

chris and nattie

nattie sniffing out her territory

sun shining through the pines

chris and nattie

holding hands - had to include one cheesy picture (sorry chris!)

and once again...chris and nattie

So there is my day thus far. I'm looking forward to taking more walks with her! Much easier to handle than Moose - we tried to take the both of them for a walk yesterday but Moose just went ape over seeing Nattie! He was way to hard to control so we had to nix it! Hopefully Moose and Kelly's puppy Logger (yes - it's a weird name) will get along better as I hope to take care of him the week that Kelly and Richard are on their honeymoon. We'll see.....


For now I'm off to enjoy my egg salad and do some more job hunting - wish me luck!

Knitted Beach Towel?

it's folded look can deceive you....

2006. The year that I learned the art of knitting.


Having a pregnant sister I decided it would the perfect time to learn - I could make her a baby blanket! What could be easier to knit than a big square? As it turns out...lots of things are easier. Buying a blanket at a store would be one. Paying someone else to knit a blanket for you would also have been easier. But I wanted this gift to be special - and special it is (but I think we all know what kind of 'special' I'm referring to*)


I forget the specifics but I ended up with three separate pieces. Apart I thought they look alright. Then I realized how long and skinny they were. Then I sewed them together and was horrified at what I saw....a knitted beach towel big enough for me to lay on. Poor Maxime (he is the recipient of this horrid gift**)


And just to further humiliate myself...here are some pictures.......

spread out in all it's ugly glory....

just to demonstrate how long the blanket is. (I'm 5'2)

my newest project

After seeing the results of the first attempt I decided to start a new - hopefully better - blanket. I still plan on sending the first - but I wanted to try and create something different. I am too poor to be buying new yarn and I just so happened to WAY over estimate the amount I would need for the first project and have a shitload of it left over.


So far I must admit that I am very proud of this project - minus the fact that I forgot to create the border I wanted to. I learned how to stream in a new color without knotting the strings (it's working thus far). It's hard to see in the picture but I have a tiny little row of yellow that is in there. I also learned the famous purl stitch from Chris's mom, Audrey, this past weekend. It took a few attempts but I have it mastered. I am now in the process of writing out the pattern as I go - I have this picture in my head - hopefully it works. I'll keep you updated on the progress (I know you're just super excited about that, right?)


Speaking of Chris's family - I forgot to continue my weekend story. I don't know what I planned on saying. It was great. I really like Willmar - it reminded me of the towns I grew up in. Not exceptional I guess - just gave me that feeling of nostalgia that I love. His sister Meaghan made some awesome sugar cookies and so I asked for the recipe. I attempted this a few days ago - not the same. They taste good but they are just not the same. I also attempted to dye them blue - they turned out a mold green. (I've been into dying my food - have you ever dyed your pancakes? It's fun - do it). Maybe for my next blog I'll include some pictures of my baking adventures and include the recipe.


As for right now I'm going to go back to my knitting. I know what you're thinking. Shouldn't your broke mooching ass be looking for job? Well I did. There were a total of 3 new jobs posted since yesterday. And I applied for them. So there.....


I should go exercise....hmph.....






*I don't mean to be politically incorrect........

okay...maybe I do.....






** Maxime is my newest nephew! He was born on Friday - April 6th 2007 at 4:15 a.m.! I don't have pictures yet but as soon as I do I'll post more.

24

flattering? no. true emotion shown? yes.

no - not 24 the annoyingly addictive t.v. show.


24 as in 24 days without employment.


yes, it is now day 24 in my quest for a job and things are not looking too hot. granted, i have not been out there looking in a way that anyone other than my slacker self would notice - but that doesn't matter.


what matters is the fact that after making a car payment today and realizing that i will really be in danger soon of not having any money i have begun the job search at full speed. it has been annoying thus far (hence the ugly picture).


all those helpful job listing sights are really really really REALLY annoying. i don't know how many accounts i've signed up for or how many log in names and passwords i've forgotten about. each job listing wants you to sign up for it's own account to apply - because god forbid they give you an e-mail, address, or phone number to contact them with.


i did manage to find one job listing that i was qualified for that gave me an actual e-mail address. so i applied for it. i think tomorrow i'm just going to suck it in and apply at some retail stores - i NEED money. starbucks offers insurance for part time - something to consider.


more updates to follow......