Yeah... not so much

Well, the job was a bust. Today was my first day of on-the-floor orientation, and within 10 minutes, I realized I was in the completely wrong place. There's a reason I didn't go into nursing... so why the heck would I work a job that really belongs to someone interested in nursing or nursing type things? I didn't make it through the end of the day today. Oh well!

My Job

Yesterday I had a pre-employment physical. The physical itself seemed quite simple and even a bit silly. But with the paperwork I filled out before the appointment, I started to become really worried that I might not "pass" the physical. Joe tells me I shouldn't worry, and I'm trying not to. Unless I hear something to the contrary today or tomorrow, I'll be going in on Monday for my orientation. And then I'll be scheduled for my 3 day orientation on the floor. I'm hoping I can get time off to spend with my parents while they're in town and so I can still attend two of my cousins' weddings. And I also have some appointments scheduled in July. But the nurse who hired me made it sound like it wouldn't be difficult to get time off, so I'm glad to hear it. I guess now I just wait for Monday!

I accepted

So it's official. I have a job. And just today I had a really good second interview for another job. But it's only a part-time job, it's in Bellevue, and it pays about $4-5 an hour less. I have to have a physical and TB tests, and then I'll be scheduled for orientation and whatnot. Man, it'll be tough working opposite hours as my super-busy husband, but it's necessary. Hopefully I'll be able to switch shifts before too long.

A weird job offer

I was offered a temporary job at the same place I worked a while ago, doing basically the same thing. At first they wanted an answer by the 18th, but then they emailed back and said they wanted an answer by today. The job isn't until August, so I was a little ambivalent about accepting or declining. But I figured I might as well accept it, and if I got a permanent job offer between now and then, I could always tell them I was no longer available for the job (even though I hate to do that).

And sure enough, I got a call the day after I accepted the temporary job from a company I interviewed with a couple weeks ago. They wanted me to come back for a second interview. It's kind of a long story, but when I went in for the first interview, it was through a staffing agency for an administrative job. But I ended up applying for a non-administrative job with the company as well, and they seemed like they'd be more interested in me for the non-administrative job.

So when I arrived yesterday for my interview, I went to the office of the person who had done my first interview, as I was told by the staffing agency that I'd be interviewing with him and another woman. But he said he was on a conference call and directed me to the main entrance for visitors so I could meet with the other woman. She greeted me and walked me to a conference room. But then she started talking to me about the non-administrative job. I tried to stop her and tell her I was told this interview was a second interview for the administrative job, but she was insistent. She offered me the non-administrative job.

And then I had to go home and call the staffing agency to tell them how the interview went. I wanted to be honest, so I told them about how I'd applied for the other job (which they were NOT happy about) and I was interviewed for and offered that job and had told the company I was interested. Anyway, the woman from the staffing agency ended up calling the man who I interviewed with and confirmed that the interview was indeed supposed to be a second interview for the administrative position. So right now I'm not sure if I still have that job offer, but I'm supposed to go back in on Monday and meet with the woman again for a second interview for the administrative job, which seems ridiculous to me. But I can see how they want to keep the staffing agency happy, so maybe it's just a formality. I'd love to just talk to the woman I interviewed with yesterday (or even the man), but I don't know that they're supposed to talk to me. So I'm thinking that maybe I should call the staffing agency and tell them the second interview is pointless or something. I don't know. Ugh.

Financial challenges

My husband and I are getting a bit creative with our finances. We had a pretty good budgeting system in place, but then we lost a HUGE chunk of our income last month. With some divine intervention, I was able to find a temporary job that helped fill in that gap just a little bit. And this month, the challenge has again presented itself. We are so grateful despite these challenges we're facing that we're able to keep things like home phone and Internet service and our Netflix subscription. But there are definitely sacrifices we've both had to make so that we are still living within our means.

One of the sacrifices we are making is our vacations. We've never been the kind of people to regularly take trips or even be extravagant when we do take trips. We bargain shop and plan ahead for flights, hotels (the couple times we've stayed in one versus staying with family), entertainment, etc. But it's a luxury we're not going to be able to afford. This really bums me out, because I have a cousin I was pretty close to before moving away getting married. And I can't make the trip to see her at this milestone in her life. I also have many other cousins I don't know very well at all because of age differences and physical distances between us, and I'm missing an opportunity to get to spend some time with them because I just can't afford the trip. Plus it's looking like we won't even be able to travel for Thanksgiving or Christmas, even if we started saving for it now.

Instead, we have looked at some of our priorities. One of those has been to find out if we can have kids or should start the adoption process. This has meant spending well over what it would've cost us for two plane tickets to see family over the course of the last two months alone for tests. And we still have tests to come. In fact, I honestly don't think we're any closer to having an answer, but that doesn't mean I've lost hope. In fact, I have a lot of hope right now, and I think that will carry me through for a while at least.

I am so grateful for the tools that are all around us and the support we receive that tell us that financial decisions we are making and sacrifices we are making are what we are supposed to be doing at this point in time. We really have been blessed with so much, and during challenging times I have found that I am reminded just how much I have been blessed.

Rearranging

My husband thinks it's amusing, but I enjoy rearranging furniture. Unfortunately for me, there's only so many ways my creativity sees that I can rearrange furniture. In some rooms, it seems like the task would be impossible. For example, our family room only has three walls, and the large windows on two walls prove obstacles. I wouldn't want to cover up one or more of the windows with an entertainment center, so there's really only one wall that can go on. Then with the couch and love seat size, there really aren't exactly options as to where those can be placed.

So I find my living room both nice because I can rearrange the furniture and yet challenging at the same time. I believe the arrangement we have in there right now is the fourth we've had since living in this house. But I begged my husband to "humor me" and help me rearrange the seating configurations the other day, despite his insistence that it just wouldn't look right. I don't love how it turned out, but I like it. And with some of the challenges our living room presents, each arrangement seems okay but a little off. This arrangement is fresh and new. It's almost like going somewhere I haven't been before. So I find myself more interested in grabbing a book and sitting in there now than I was when the old arrangement became a little bit stale.

But rearranging the living room (or any other rooms for that matter) isn't the only rearranging I've done. Honestly, since I started getting serious about my weight loss, I've noticed my thoughts and actions starting to rearrange themselves a bit. My habits are being altered as a result--and in positive ways. Sure, I have quite a long way to go before I'm where I want to be. Shoot, I even have a long way to go before I'm anywhere NEAR where I want to be. But instead of letting that frustrate me and keep me from acting, my rearranged thoughts have rearranged my attitudes and actions.

I have definitely made some positive progress in bettering myself, which is something I think I will be working on my entire life. But now I don't hate myself. I'm actually kind of starting to like the person I see inside and out. She's not as weak as I once believed. She's not as pathetic as I once believed. She's not a pushover. She's not worthless.

What can you rearrange in your environment to change things up a bit (or a lot) for the better?