Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Pretend Post-It Tuesday

Please pretend that
these little groupings
of words 
are actual Post-its.

Because I don't 
have time to 
mess with Blogger 
images this morning

Why, you ask?

BECAUSE I GOT THE JOB!

yay me!

Upside of working
a regular 9 to 5 job...

A regular friggin paycheck!

Downside -
I can't work in my
jammies anymore or reach
back and scratch my butt
anytime I want to

I think in the workplace
that's a little off-putting.

That's ok though,
cause they make creams for that.

But I'm just very happy
to be regularly employed
with a company that I 
think I'm going to like
very much.

I start my new job today.

I actually should be in
the shower right now

I better go!

Friday, July 23, 2010

And then there were 5 and Some Blog Awards

Howdy bloggyworld!

I've missed you all. I'm sorry I've been scarce but job hunting has consumed me the last couple weeks. Selling yourself is exhausting and when you realize you have to put yourself on clearance to get any interest, it can be a bit disheartening. I've re-worded my resume so many times for so many jobs that I'm sick of hearing about myself.
  
I'm happy to say that yesterday was encouraging though. Remember the blurry email expressing interest in an interview? I finally had the interview yesterday and it went very well. They're only interviewing 5 candidates and I'll find out their decision Tuesday.
    
Oh, and we got our air-conditioning fixed last week, thanks to mom and step-dad!
    
I thought I would give some long overdue thanks and acknowledgement for some lovely blog awards bestowed upon me recently (and not so recently).
    
Shannon, from The Me Within and Connie from Soy Mamiymas, and Janel from This Journey Called Life, all of whom are incredibly strong, sweet, and funny gave me the Versatile Blogger award.












    
The funny Karen, from Muffin Fixation, who shares my weird fixation with Toondoo.com, gave me the Beautiful Blogger award.

     
For all of these I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself and pass it on to blogs I enjoy that I've recently discovered. I'm going to make this short and sweet.

1.  I love camping.
2.  I have a thing for artwork featuring trees
3.  I don't make my bed
4.  I let my cat drink out of my water glass
5.  I wish I had more rooms in my house just so I could decorate them
6.  The cliche I most relate to is "Never say never"
7.  When I was a baby we lived in a trailer park.
     Aren't I just ffffascinating? *roll eyes*
     The bloggers I'm passing this on to are:
June Freaking Cleaver from Ratio of Failures
Momma Fargo from The Boogie Man is My Friend
Cheeseboy from The Blog O Cheese
     
Lastly, the very funny duo Kathryn and Dan from She Don't Make False Claims gave me the Your Going Places Baby award - don't ya love that name?
     
I'm supposed to say where I see myself in 10 years. I have simple dreams. I'd like to drive through the country in an R.V., writing about my adventures while earning residuals on an idea that I have yet to come up with. You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the girl. I'd like to pass this one on to:


THANK YOU GUYS!

     I've missed your blogs terribly and I hope to get caught up with y'all over the weekend. Hope everyone has a relaxing one and Happy Friday!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Super Hot Post Its!



The following are notes that appeared around our house this week, that could have been on Post It Notes:
When my son turned 20 recently, he wasn't quite ready financially to move out on his own, but decided it would be more manly to live full time at his dad's. After he left I saw this note on our little menu board in the kitchen. That was over a month ago and I can't bring myself to erase it. I see the child in the handwriting and a glimpse of the man in the words.
My brother left this note taped to the fridge for Sissa (my 18 year old). She's not home much and when she does breeze in, she goes straight to the fridge to scarf whatever leftovers she can find. Her only chores in the house are to clean the litterbox, her room, and her half of the bathroom. My brother wanted to ensure the litterbox got done.
This note actually is on a Post It. Although it appears to be a Post It note intervention from my family to me, I assure you, it's not. Since food and drinks get consumed at an alarming rate around our house, anything a person doesn't want consumed had better have a note on it saying so. Even then, it's only safe for about an hour. This is stuck to the wall by the fridge for my brother to conveniently slap on whatever juice he's purchased for himself.

The following notes are from me to the Universe since it seems intent on kicking my arse this week:


 **Did I mention that it's about 108 degrees here in the Desert? No? I must have forgot that little detail in my heat stroke induced delerium.

Monday, July 12, 2010

ihappys!

mummytime
It's time for ihappys sponsored by Brenda from MummyTime!

Our neurotic little doggie, Lucy


A sky that makes me feel very small

A glass of wine and a good book before bed

An email (blurred on purpose) I got this morning from a prospective employer requesting an interview!
Hope everyone has ihappy moments today!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Good-Job Hunting

Job hunting is a tedious, all-consuming affair. You have to portray yourself as the greatest thing to hit the workforce since White-out; meanwhile little pieces of your once healthy self-image are being chipped away with each non-response to your resume dispatching.
    
It's a lot like dating. You show only your best qualities, with your beautiful, cosmetic-enhanced face and your most flattering outfit. You're charming and friendly and you say smart things. Then he doesn't call. You wonder what you said or did, or didn't say or do. You wonder who he did call.
 
It's a cruel truth that while we're in our most fragile state, fending off rejection and self-doubt, we have to display confidence and be intrepid. It's like standing upright after being punched in the stomach when your instincts are screaming at you to double over and clutch your gut.
  
Then there's the applications and questionnaires to complete. I struggled with the question, "Why are you leaving your current job?"
  
How do you say (succinctly), "Because trying to close home loans right now is like running into a brick wall over and over until I'm battered, bloody, and emotionally spent and I've done it now for far too long"?
 
I settled for the less dramatic, "I'm changing career paths in order to more fully utilize my administrative and creative skills."
  
I don't know what to say to the question, "What are your career goals?"
  
At one time, I would have answered, "To continue helping deserving folks attain the American dream of homeownership." With the housing industry slowly being overtaken by the big banks, however, I'm more inclined to answer, "To distract others in the home lending business while I make my escape in the last remaining lifeboat."
 
"Last remaining" is the operative word, since our state's unemployment is at 14%, the highest in the Nation.   There aren't too many jobs out there and the competition is fierce. I ask myself what in the world my chances are of landing a job I like with decent pay when I'm a non-college graduate, a week away from turning 45? Am I being overly optimistic?

Optimistic is one of the qualities I boasted on my resume, by the way.  I have an "optimistic, can-do attitude." Really, I do.
  
It's hard to know how much of your personality to reveal to a potential employer. Should you always opt for the conservative approach in your answers? Or should you stand out from the rest and throw a little humor in? What if they perceive humor as not taking the application process seriously? Just how candid should job candidates be? (See what I did there?)
  
Have you ever noticed that candidates is "candid" and "dates"? That's a bit of an oxymoron, isn't it? If my ex-husband had been candid on our first dates, he would have told me his goal in life was to sleep with as many women as possible and matrimony was not going to get in the way of that.

Then at least I could have thought it over before saying "I do." But I'm getting off-track.


We were talking about job-hunting.
  
Prospective employers like to ask what unique skills I can bring to their company. "Unique" conjures up things like juggling or water ballet. Are there any truly "unique" office skills? If I can file while standing on my head, does that qualify? Shall I learn to type with my elbows? Answer the phone without using my hands? What exactly are they looking for?


I've had to get creative with adjectives. I was going to describe my writing skills as "extraordinary," but that sounded a bit over the top. When you think about it, shouldn't extra-ordinary mean maximum ordinari-ness? Its synonym would be super-mediocre. Outstanding at being ordinary. The English language is perplexing, isn't it?
    
It's nerve-racking, this business of job hunting. I haven't been in this position in 20 years. I know I'm fortunate though since I'm here by choice, really...at least for now.  I'm shifting gears, changing goals, taking a different path. That's a good thing. If we aren't happy in our circumstances, then we must change them. It's a simple concept, but a scary one.
    
I'm happy to say that I did get one response yesterday to a resume I sent out. That's given me some hope. I'm one of 60 candidates, narrowed down from 110. The 60 of us had to complete a questionnaire and do a couple computer tasks and  from that they are whittling the potentials down to 10 at which point they will begin interviewing.
  
I'm "cautiously optimistic"... which means I'm still sending out resumes and hoping I get called.
  
*Sigh.* It's just like dating.

THANKS TO BRENDA AT MUMMYTIME FOR HER FLOG YO BLOG HOP!

Candidly Yours,
Lori

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

M.I.A.

Hi Better-bloggers-than-I! (Or is it - better-bloggers-than-me?)
 
No matter, because you know who you are.
    
I'm sorry I've been M.I.A. this whole week. I'm going through a bit of a career crisis, and that, coupled with my mother-in-law visiting, some 4th of July festivities to plan, and...wasn't there something else...no, that's about it...I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.
    
Still feeling it a bit...only the career crisis is turning into a bit of a panic. A little bit. But I don't want to write about panicy things now, so just thought I'd share some pics of hubby risking his fingers so that we and our guests might have an entertaining 4th of July.


Yes, that's hubby setting off fireworks. In the pool. See the advanced floating devices he's using? Thank you Rubbermaid.
    
This is a photo journal of the nights escapades which hubby posted on Facebook:





















And here's hubby's comments:

FLAMMABLE FREDDY'S 4TH O' JULY FAMILY FIREPOOLOOZA!! -- where entertainment is always 1st, safety usually 2nd, and my burns 3rd degree! Who puts the "anger" in danger, the "demon" in demonstration, and the "uh... medic" in paramedic? I do - and pass the savings on to YOU!
It's hard to feel in crisis mode when you're laughing, right? ...right?
    
I hope to post again this week, but I'm not sure. Hope you stick around - I'll be back.

Worriedly Yours,
Lori