Category Archives: Life

Time For My Least Favorite Game: What’s That Smell?

Blogging, Life

Between the job loss, depression and panic, job searches, interviews, and not one, but two new jobs over the last few weeks, I’ll admit that housework has been pretty low on the priority list. And it shows. I’ve never been a great housekeeper and likely never will be. I accepted that a long time ago. It just isn’t a dream of mine.

It’s gotten really bad lately. No longer am I slightly embarrassed if someone drops by unexpectedly; I’ve graduated into fully mortified that people will think this is how my apartment always looks. Not only that, but it’s gotten to the point of having no idea where things are when usually I know exactly where things are despite the chaos. Granted, I do have the future mister and two kids adding to the mess, but as the female leader, apparently I’m supposed to stay on top of things a whole lot better than I have been.

Tonight I finally made it a priority. My kitchen is one of the smallest areas of the apartment and gets dirty at light-speed, so I figured I would start there and do more than just the usual quick load of dishes.

Dishes done. Counters and stove scrubbed. Coffeepot scrubbed and sweet tea made (awesome!). Trash taken out, floor mopped.

And then it was time to face my nemesis:

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It isn’t evil, but either evil lurks within in the form of a funky smell, or we’re growing a cure for ebola in there.

Was it the leftover mashed potatoes? When did we even fix mashed potatoes last? The bag of leftover fast food from last week? Did something drip when it was thawing and I missed it? Good lord, what is it and where is it coming from???

Turns out, I had completely forgotten about a bag of oranges from who knows how long ago stuck in the back of a drawer.

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They weren’t orange anymore, and now they can continue their runaway science project from the dumpster.

On a side note, U.S. #2 or better? What, I didn’t feel like springing for the number one oranges that day? Sheesh.

What I’ve Done With Myself Since My Job Quit Me

Life, ,

Looking over my blog last night, I realized I have yet to do an update on what I’ve been doing about my job situation since my workplace closed down.

I didn’t get much of a chance to relax or really process the major change in my life. As soon as I got wind of the imminent closing, I was busy updating my resume, handing it out, following up on job leads, and filling out as many applications as possible. I had my first interview before the place closed, at a local pizza place, as I mentioned before. I thought it went very well and I pretty much had it in the bag. Then I didn’t hear anything for over a week, and troubled my efforts on finding work because, well, bills.

Then they contacted me and put me to work. Which was great.

It wasn’t a bad job. I liked staying busy like we did. However, the hours were different from what I was used to. That was to be expected, but I didn’t expect that staying out past midnight would kick my butt the way it did, nor did I expect that missing my girls’ bedtimes would hurt my heart the way it did. I also wound up sick from the change in sleep patterns, which didn’t help.

Things I learned at the job: making pizza without gloves on is really gross. Gloves really get in your way, so you make sure to wash your hands a million times, but you still wind up with pizza toppings under your nails. Very gross. Also, hands-on training is fantastic, but you have to remember the new person will have questions and not know how to do some stuff, and pairing them with someone who gets annoyed by this or another new person who barely knows how to do it is not a good idea.

Meanwhile, I had another interview at a grocery store chain that also went very well, they told me I was hired, and I haven’t heard from them in over a week now either. Weird.

But I haven’t been idle. I have apps out everywhere, remember? I put one in for kitchen work at another place, and they skipped the whole pesky interview thing and went straight to calling me up to start training. I’m making chicken and side items for above minimum wage at a place not far from my old workplace.

I like it. It’s a lot slower than my old place, but a lot of the work is familiar and I can always keep myself busy by cleaning. I like that. I especially like that the place closes at nine, so I can still give my girls kisses when I come home. So far, it’s been my best option. And they have a really awesome fryer and breading station. We would have killed for it at my old place.

So that’s what’s going on workwise, but there’s more. While hunting down and trying out these different jobs, I realized I would be in a much more stable place and have so many more options available to me if I went back to school to finish my bachelor’s degree in psychology. So I’ve met with school a few times now, signed up for a couple classes, and am on my way in January.

I also found out that I only have eight more classes to go to graduate. EIGHT. Holy cow, why did I wait so long to do this?!

So that’s what’s been going on with me. I’ve been a busy girl, really. And very determined to do the best I can for my family.