Guess Who's Getting a Raise

So the other day I was talking about being considered for a supervisory position at my job.  Saturday morning I talked to my store manager and the overnight manager about it.  They'd already decided who they were going to fill the supervisory position with.. and it wasn't me.

But there were TWO positions that I'd applied for!  The other one is still a full time overnight position and I was still very interested in it.  So I had my meeting with the managers and they gave me some very positive feedback.  I left with a strong feeling that I'd be chosen to fill the position.  So, again, this was on Saturday morning.

Moving Up the Ladder?

I mentioned yesterday that I was up for consideration for a supervisory position at Kohls.  And if I didn't mention it yesterday, I should have.

So here are the details..

Our store is one of five total in the company chosen to start a pilot program which I probably can't say anything about.. BUT there are some newly created supervisory positions going along with this pilot.

The good news?  I feel I'm very qualified for at least two positions. 

The bad news?  They're overnight positions!

I talked it over with Eric and he agrees that this isn't something I can pass up, so I applied for both positions I felt I was most qualified for.  I spoke to my Asst Store Manager and he explained a little bit more in detail what would be required, asked about my availability and willingness to supervise, explained the differences in the two positions (not quite a whole lot, but then again, they are new and the roles aren't clearly defined as of yet), and asked if I was still interested.

Hell yes!

Working overnight would be a HUGE challenge and I don't know how well I'd handle it BUT I know I can make it work if I get the job.  We're talking about a substantial increase in hours, a shift differential, and --I'm assuming-- a raise for taking on a supervisory role.  I can definitely live a few months with no sleep (duh, I had two kids!) and after that hopefully I'll be able to find a preschool that won't  take my entire paycheck... or at least get on a waiting list for childcare assistance.

I'll be talking to (the haven't formally said it's an interview) the overnight manager at the asscrack of dawn tomorrow morning.  His shift will just be ending, mine will just be starting, so we'll chat in between.  I kinda know this guy, kinda not.  I mean, I've seen him in passing, worked with him last year for a few days during inventory, but I don't *know him* know him.  And he can say the same for me.  So I hope I'll be able to make a good impression.  I'm sure the rest of my supervisors and managers have already told him what a great worker I am.  No, really... I'm a great worker!

It's about damn time I move up from this minimum wage work!  (For the record, I am making more than minimum wage.. I'm just making a point)  I'm tired of this teenager stuff, and I have NOTHING to put on a resume.  Hopefully that will all change very soon!

Wish me luck everyone, this mama has her hand on the ladder!

The Wow Factor- a Mothers' Day post

Mothers' Day is not about jewelry.  It's not about a day at the spa.  It's not about lunch at a fancy restaurant or even breakfast in bed.

I'm embarrassed when I see moms complaining about a lack of "wow" on Mothers' Day.  Usually they have small children, so what they're really complaining about are their husbands.  What do you mean you didn't get anything.  Look at your children!  How many quiet hours have you spent blissfully rocking your newborns?  How many raspberries have you blown onto their fat tummies?  How many games of peek-a-boo have you played with your enthusiastic toddlers?  How much joy have your children given you?

~*~

Last week was mostly wet.  Today it is raining again.  This weekend though?  This weekend was gorgeous!  Absolute perfect weather, and I had to work.  My mother-in-law came down on Saturday and Matthew spent the night with her, so on Mothers' Day morning I didn't get to see him.  Eric and I made coffee and cinnamon rolls before I had to leave for work.  He gave Lucas a card to give me, which was really cute.

Then it was off to work, where I got a surprise.  All of the mothers working yesterday were presented with a pink carnation and baby's breath to pin to their lanyards.  It was a thoughtful and unexpected gesture, but that's how they are, and it's one of the reasons why I love working for Kohl's, although I don't know if it's a nationwide standard or it's just the great people at my own store.

When I got home, Matt was there and he said Happy Mothers' Day to me.  I found out that earlier in the day when Nana dropped him off he had been practicing on his bike and he made the entire length of the sidewalk without anyone holding the seat.  Twice.  I was so proud!

After dinner I called my own mom.  She spent the day with her mom and one of her sisters.  They all went out to lunch.  I wish I could have been there.  I miss my mom terribly and I often think of moving back down to Florida just to be with her, but we hated living there.  Hopefully I will see her this summer.

So, that was my understated Mothers' Day.  There was no big "WOW!" to it, but there didn't need to be.  I got my hugs and kisses.  I had a nice conversation catching up for the week with my mom.  What more do I really need?  

What's Been Going On

I just wish my life had a tiny bit of stability!!

So Eric didn't get the job at TMobile.  They never called him back.  He *did* however get an offer from a warehouse.  He interviewed for that on a Friday and they asked him to start the following Tuesday.  So I went to Kohl's and had all of my weekday shifts covered by other people so that he could start this M-F shift.  The day before he was supposed to start (this was last Monday) they called and told him that the guy he was supposed to be replacing had decided not to leave after all.  FML right? 

He ended up getting an interview for KMart and getting the job over there pending background checks.  When he came home from the interview he was pretty upset.  KMart isn't going to help get us out of our financial hole. 

Yesterday he got a call from the warehouse that didn't need him.  Someone broke their wrist or something and they wanted him to come in today and work for a few weeks.  If he does good they said they'd keep him. 

So guess where he is today.. at WORK!  For the first time since September!  KMart hasn't called back with his start date yet so he's thinking of working both.  He doesn't quite trust the warehouse to keep him even if he busts his butt for them, so he wants something to fall back on.

A much needed, but small and shaky, victory!

Hoping

Eric just left for a job interview.  We really need for this to land.  He's been out of a job for six months now and the only reason we haven't been evicted yet is because our tax returns took care of all that we owed and our landlord was very patient with us.  If Eric doesn't start work soon though, we'll just sink right back down.

I don't want to be poor anymore!  I don't want to have to triage the laundry because we can't afford to do all of it.  I don't want our phone to be out of service until my next paycheck.  I don't want to have to tell my kids "No," because we don't have the cash for the ice cream truck, or a carnival game, or whatever.  I know that there are plenty of free things to do in the spring and summer time, and we do enjoy those.  Sometimes those little extras, that dollar or two, make such a big difference though. 

We don't need much to skate by.  We do get food stamps, and I am very grateful for that, but what I'm bringing home a month wouldn't cover rent even if we didn't have to worry about electric, doing laundry in coin-op machines, detergent, body wash, shampoo, diapers, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc etc etc.  Plus, we are still paying $250/month for a car that doesn't work!  Just having enough, every month, to pay all of our bills and restock the things we need would be great.  I can't remember what it was like not to have to worry about those things.  If there wasn't any extra I think I could deal with it as long as there was *enough*.

So I'm hoping.  I hope Eric doesn't get caught in the rain walking from the bus stop to the place and end up looking like a wet dog.  I hope his interview goes well.  I hope if he gets this job he'll be able to start quickly.  And I hope we'll be able to start climbing out of this hole.

So if anyone would like to send some prayers, positive vibes, good juju, or whatever in our direction, we'd appreciate it!  We just really need to get our feet in the right direction here, so we can work our way back up.

Random Snippets

Today I am making my world famous chicken noodle soup!  (My family is my world, so yes, it really is world famous!)  I haven't made it all year and I am so excited for it!  I even make the broth from scratch.  It's one of maybe three things that I am excellent at making. 
Eric has an interview today at a warehouse.  Even though he really needs to find work, I don't think this would work out even if he did get it.  With no car it would take him almost 2 hours to get there on the bus.  It takes me an hour to get to work already, I just don't see how we'd be able to both get to work on time and have someone here with the kiddies while the other was en route.  Maybe it's time for daycare. 
I've been doing well at my job and I have a very good feeling that they will be asking me to stay in January.  My hours will probably be slashed down to 20 per week, but it will be something.  And I really do love working there.  I've never had a job where they treat their employees so well.  Maybe if I stay long enough, work hard enough, I can turn it into a career, get salary.  ::shrug:: I'm open to anything right now.
Christmas this year is going to be kind of sad.  My MIL got into a car accident about a week and a half ago (she's ok!) and probably won't have her car back until the middle of January.  Usually she lets us use it so we can go to my FIL's big Christmas Eve bash and then we just bring it back to her on Christmas day and spend the day there.  My SIL was going to drive us up on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas day bring her mom over to our house for a couple of hours, but she called crying the other night that it's not fair to her (no, it's really not.  I get it), and that she hasn't had any time to spend with her fiance and he wouldn't be able to come up if she took us because we all wouldn't fit in her car and so on and so forth.  I'm so tired from working and stressed from worrying about Eric finding a job that I really can't handle everyone else's problems.  So I told her if it was too much for her, don't do it.  Just say you can't do it instead of crying and complaining to me about what you "have to" do.  Then I hung up on her.  First time in 8 years.  So now, not only is she NOT bringing us up to the her dad's house, she's also not bringing her mom over to ours for Christmas.  Which is really unfair to her mom, who is going to be all alone on Christmas.  I guess it's my fault for pissing her off more, but I don't really have any pity for her right now.
I need to quit my ranting before I get mad.
So, yeah, chicken noodle soup!  It's starting to smell good already!

Busy Busy Little Bee

I can't believe how busy I've been, and I know that I've missed a lot of great stuff online during these past few weeks.  I've really missed reading all of my favorite blogs!

Here's an update of what's been going on here:

October 18th was my first day working for Kohl's!  I was really surprised to learn I got the job.  They had over 300 applicants for about 50 positions and their were 10 people per interview, so I wasn't getting my hopes up.  I'm grateful to be working and having a lot of fun there!

We went to the Scarecrow Festival at the Easton Farmers' Market on Oct. 22nd and had a really great time!  Sorry for the sideways pictures: I'm just too lazy right now to fix them.  So at the Scarecrow festival there were a bunch of scarecrows, obviously.  They were all over the place.  Pumpkin bowling, a really LAME puppet show by a nerdy looking kid, lots of games mixed in with the usual farmers' market stuff, and.... the CORN PIT!  My kids had SO MUCH FUN in this thing!  I'd never seen anything like it before, and if you haven't either, it's basically a sand box filled with corn kernels instead of sand. 

Then I was just working working working!  And when I've been home I've been too tired to do anything buy lay on the couch!  And then of course I had work the day we had all that disgusting snow!  Bleck!  I didn't take any pictures of it.  I'm hoping to bury that memory into my subconscious.

School was cancelled on Halloween because there were still areas in Easton that didn't have power, but that was cool for me because I had to work and was originally going to miss Matthew's Halloween parade at school.  As it turned out I was able to go on Tuesday!  Halloween itself turned out to be kind of lame.  When I was growing up the little kids went trick or treating right out of school, and the older kids went after it started getting a little dark out.  Here, there are set hours and it's like from 6 to 8 is the designated time to go trick or treating.  So we went out for an hour, while EVERYONE else was also out and NOBODY was home!  Between the two of them they got less than one bucket of treats.  I mean, they don't really need it, but it's disappointing going trick or treating when you have to skip 6 houses before someone's home!  We're going to another neighborhood next year, maybe things will be different!