Where The Heck Have I Been?

My last post was from Miami, with the promise that I would post through out the week.  I guess I lied.  Not intentionally mind you, but I didn't fulfill my promise.  Actually, looking back on the past few months, I haven't really done anyone any favors with my posts.  Or, non posts I guess.

Let's get a few things straight first.

I have been out of work since November.  As someone who has worked since she was 14, this has been quite a shock to my system.  I have struggled through some depression, a few highs, and then back down to some more depression.

I have always been "the glass is half full" kind of girl.  I try to stay positive because mulling over something isn't going to fix it.  But, I have to admit, this has been a struggle. 

I find myself wondering what the heck I'm supposed to do with my time.  It has been nice being home when Kyle gets home.  I really think that maternity leave should be reserved for when your child is a teenager.  They don't think they need you at that point in time, but they do!  My husbands business has been busy, so I have been able to help out with that. 

I have been interviewed multiple times, making it to the "final" few, but for one reason or another (over qualified, under qualified or they are taking an internal candidate) haven't been able to find something that fits.  The last position I interviewed for I was sure I had nailed it.  It was a job I REALLY wanted, and could envision myself working not only for this company, but in that position.  While in Miami, I received the news that they had decided to hire an internal candidate. 

I was crushed.  No other way to put it.  I seriously thought that I had it.  I know someone who works there, and she called to tell me that she spoke to those that had been in my presentation and interview.  Yes, I went through 2 interviews and a 15 minute presentation in front of a panel.  They loved me and there wasn't anything they would tell me to do differently.  They just had to go internal.

So, that would be why there ended up being no posts from Miami.  My mind was sort of out of it.  I did focus in on the conference after I received the call.  Maybe soap is my calling and I haven't realized it?  I know where I would love to take the business, but money has something else to say about it. 

I'm hoping that I will get back to my old self soon.  I don't feel like myself and I know that my husband thinks I have lost my mind.  A friend of mine has been trying to help me work on what I want to be when I grow up.  I'm hoping to figure it out before it is too late!

I Hate Mondays, Yes I Know It is Thursday.

I should have known to just crawl into bed on Monday and forget getting up until the following one. 

Our Monday morning started with a transformer blowing up in the neighborhood, which ultimately caused us to lose power.  So, you hear the big BOOM from the transformer, which wakes you up, then you realize the power is off.  We have a generator that is hooked into the house, so the power isn't off long.  After about a minute of the power being off, the alarm clock went off.  Jeff crawled out of bed and I shortly followed.

As I walked out into the kitchen I couldn't believe how tired I was for 6:15.  I'm normally a wake up and ready to go kind of girl.  Jeff mentioned to me that the newspaper wasn't delivered this morning.  This surprised me since our newspaper is usually in our driveway by 5:45 a.m each morning. 

We drank our coffee, Jeff read the news on the computer and then got up to get dressed to leave for work.  I sat down to watch the morning news.  With everything going on in Japan, I wanted to see the news at 7, so I sat down to watch the local news until that time.  I had to fumble with the television since we had lost power and of course it messes up your cable as well.  At which point I glanced at the time on the cable box.

5:33 AM

As I sat and stared trying to figure out what the heck time was it really, the nice lady on the news informed me that yep, sure indeed, it was 5:33 a.m.  I walked into our bedroom to find Jeff fully dressed and ready to go.  "Wanna know why the paper isn't here yet?" I asked.  "Why", he replied.  "Because it is only 5:30 in the morning" I yelled back! 

Somewhere in the confusion of the power going out, and coming back on, our clock set itself to some funky time.  (And yes, we had set our clocks back on Saturday!)  I'm glad I discovered it before Jeff left.  It would have been interesting for him to one, not only work in the dark, but two, to show up at someones house at 6 a.m. for work! 

The day continued at our accountants office that afternoon where we discovered my former wonderful employer never took any federal withholding taxes out of my pay check last year.  I'm not even going into the explanation they gave me as to how and why it happened.  But this now causes us to have a LARGE tax bill that we were not expecting to have.  I could sit down and cry.  Truth be told, I did sit down and cry. 

That was the beginning to our week.  On a better note, I hope, we have selected someone to work for us.  We now have to wait on the insurance company to confirm his driving record and that he is okay to drive for us.  Guess when we get the answer?  MONDAY. 

I'm not even working and I hate Mondays!



I Don't Get It!

We have owned our own business since 2000.  During this time we have had numerous employees. And also numerous wanna be employees.

What do I mean by that?  This is an example of yesterday.

We placed an ad for a part time position with our company.  Within 4 hours of the ad being posted, we had 9 potentials.  We narrowed those down to three, then spoke and met with them. 

Every single person is pretty much asked the same questions, with the main one being, you are okay with part time?!  And the pay is this, with the potential of increasing.  Every single one of them said yes.  Jeff picked the person he thought would be the most helpful, and offered to let him start today to try it out.  We had a lot of rain yesterday, so he is far behind in the schedule for the week.

Excited with the prospect of having 3 employees today, Jeff headed out the door to get started.  And guess who didn't show up for work this morning! 

I don't get it.  If you don't want the job, just say so.  If something else comes up, have the courtesy to call.  We didn't give the opportunity to others because this one person said they wanted it.  We sold the business back in 2005 for primarily this same reason.  We were tired of people not being honest and not showing up for work.  You can't plan your day when you are not sure if people will show up. 

Work ethic seems to be dying a slow death.  The excuses we hear from employees as to why they are late, not showing up, etc. are almost funny.  But to have people rely on you and you don't show up is just ridiculous.  If there is one thing I hope we are instilling in our son is a good work ethic.  Go to work, do a good job and you will one day be rewarded.  The problem that I see is most want it all and they don't want to work for it. 

Here's to the weekend!  Jeff is going to need it!