It's November!

I had a job interview and testing yesterday. It was for a medical receptionist position at CSHP. I was so nervous before I got there. Once I started the testing process, I felt better immediately. The test was on a PC and consisted of data entry, customer service questions, receptionist questions, spelling/vocabulary and medical terminology. The only part I didn't do too well on was the data entry. The job was listed for $9/hr but I was told that if I was offered the job it would probably be for $11+/hour. Woohoo! Only problem is, that then I might make too much money so I need to be careful about what I accept for compensation. I don't want to lose my SS benefits. I can't. I'm not even sure I can work even part time at this point. It would definitely be a trial thing. The actual interview was fine. I was able to answer all the questions put to me. I had to list Lisa and Kitty as references. They were fine with that. Once my references check out, I'll hopefully be asked to a second interview at the actual site (over here on the east side of town). If that goes well, I should hear from the HR person and be offered the job. It will probably take a couple of weeks for all of this to take place. Hopefully I'll be able to attend the voc rehab and skills certificate sessions at the PPWFC.

I also applied for an online job with savingdinner.com. They are hiring a Customer Support Representative. It's an at home part time job. That would be great because of the dogs. If the receptionist job is more than 4 hours on any given day then I probably won't be able to take the position because the dogs won't last in the house alone for that long without possibly having an accident. I'd hate to have to refuse the job because of the dogs. Anyway, whatever is supposed to work out, will work out. I know that.

Want to mention that I called Lynn before the interview and we prayed for me to have peace in the interview and testing process. It definitely helped to pray. I had a lot of confidence in both the testing and the interview. I made a few flubs, but nothing glaring. It certainly was a victory for me to get through the process. Even if I'm not asked for a second interview, I feel good about doing well in the testing and interview. My right hand is sore from taking the test on the PC. I don't know how that would be effected by working 20 hours per week. I'm sure I would get used to using my hand again for that length of time.

After the interview I went home and applied for that online job at savingdinner.com. Then a bit after 6pm we went over to Lisa's for a Halloween get-together. We didn't stay all that long, but we did have a nice time. I was in bed by 10pm but was up at 2am to go to the bathroom. I went back to bed, but started thinking of things that I needed to do so I got up. I wanted to send a thank you email to the interviewer and I got that done. I also wanted to figure out what the potential pay would be for the position so I could see if it would affect my benefits or not. If they don't offer me less money, then I'll have to ask for less. I get to deduct the cost of my medications, but the rate that she quoted me would probably still be too high. I'll just have to see what happens. I'm not going to spend any time worrying about it. I know that what is supposed to happen, will happen.

I also wanted to get up and blog a bit. I haven't blogged for days now. I've had internet and phone at home so I haven't had to go to the library and I've had distraction while at home. Mostly I've been spending my time job hunting and filling out applications. I've kind of let the house go (laundry, dishes, etc.) but I started working on that yesterday. I'll try to get everything caught up by the end of the day today. I'm sure I'll get back to bed for a while and get some sleep. I've only had about four hours of sleep so far tonight/this morning.

I got half of my medicine in the mail yesterday. It's nice to have my Trazadone again to help me to sleep better. I'm still getting up to go to the bathroom but when I am sleeping, it's a more restful sleep. The other half of my medicine should be here by the end of next week, I hope. I really need my Prozac. I'm starting to feel a bit off kilter.

I got a haircut yesterday for the interview. It was kind of messy looking so I got it trimmed up. It's a bit shorter than I'd like but not military style. lol It definitely needed to be trimmed.

The weather was really cold and overcast yesterday. There was a possibility of snow showers and that made me a bit nervous since I had to go downtown for the testing and interview. But the weather was fine. No precip to speak of. But it sure was cold. I parked in the parking garage so I wouldn't have to walk outside. Unfortunately, it cost me $6 to park. Yikes! That's for only about 2 hours or so. Highway robbery if you ask me. lol

We're on our second month of being on a budget. It looks pretty tight for the first couple of weeks of the month, but then we'll have a surplus at the end of the month to 'get ahead'. In December we can definitely start on the BEF. If I can get a job, then we'd be able to fund that a lot quicker and start on the debt snowball (loan, jeep, FFEF). I'd need to spend some money on clothes for work if I get a job outside the home, but I'd try to do my shopping at Goodwill instead of paying retail. If I had two pair of pants and four shirts, I'd have plenty to wear. I don't have any dress clothes at this point. I wore a pair of David's dress pants with my orange top. Luckily the pants fit just fine since I've lost so much weight. I work clunky shoes but decided it would be better than 'falling off' of my slip on shoes.

I haven't walked for days. I need to get out there tomorrow morning and get my mile in. I don't have any smoothie mix, so I've been having cereal for breakfast. I miss walking. I'm not quite as into the new Stephen King story as I was the first one, but it's growing on me. I did a lot of nervous eating today, so I really need to get out there and walk tomorrow. So far I've lost about 30 pounds total. That's pretty good. I'm still trying to stay away from soda, junk food and fast food. I've had a treat now and then, but not daily (or multiple times a day!) like I was doing just months ago. I'm doing really well.

Well, it's November 1st! I can't believe it's turkey month already. I need to start getting ready for thanksgiving and buy a bird. I'm going to keep it low key again this year. If we get invited somewhere, I think we will go but I will still make a bird for at home. David and I need to sit down and talk about christmas. We don't have the money to buy gifts for everyone this year so I think we should concentrate on getting something for the grandkids only. I'm not sure how he'll feel abou that, but otherwise we'll have to do family gifts (movie or game baskets). That might be a better idea anyway. We'll have to see.

I miss going to the library. I was much more focused while I was there. Since I didn't want to spend the day there, I had to just do what was necessary and put off what I didn't need to do. It saved me a lot of time by not being on the computer all day. But, now that I have internet service at home again, I'm back to spending more time on the laptop than I should be. Mostly I spend time on the TMMO site. Which reminds me - The TMMO book is on sale at the christian bookstore for half price, plus an additional 25% off! What a deal. I think I'll pick up the book on Friday. I'm also going to buy some flannel sheets for the bed. They are on sale at Big Lots for $20. They also have a 3 quart $12 crock pot that I'm going to look at. I'm not sure if 3 quarts is big enough so I'll have to see it first. Those things aren't in the budget but they are necessary. I want to start using a crock pot for cooking so I'm not having to start dinner so late int he day eveyr day. And the flannel sheets are needed because we are keeping the temperature so low in the house to conserve on energy. And the book is a steal, so I can't pass that up. I'm not sure how much more I'll get out of the book than I've already gotten out of the radio show and the forum, but it would be nice for David to be able to read the book along with me. He's totally on board but needs some information to understand where we are going with all of this.

I've already got the November budget in place. We went over the budget last weekend. I think we need to go over it again though in more detail.

For some reason I was just thinking of the house up in WP. Sometimes I really miss the lifestyle that we had up there. I don't particularly miss the house, but I do miss the lifestyle. I also miss heating the house with the wood stove (in addition to the electric baseboard heat). I don't know that I miss hauling firewood up to the second level, but I do miss having a fire in the cold weather. And I sure do miss that property. It is so beautiful. Oh well, that's another chapter in my life now. One that I've had to turn the page on. I'm glad that I'm having good feelings about the place instead of always having bad thoughts about everything that happened up there.

One of the other things I was thinking about while I was lying in bed was the money that people owe us that they had no intention of paying back. I lent money to a friend so she could buy safer tires for her vehicle and she never paid us back. We also loaned about $11,000 t D & A and I'm sure we'll never see any of that. And of course there is the money we loaned to Brad. Speaking of Brad, I believe he's back in jail. I got three messages on my cell phone and I think it was from the correctional facility. I'm actually glad that now that the weather is getting colder that he is in jail instead of on the street. He'll have a warm place to stay, food to eat, shelter, a shower every day and he won't have to worry every day about where he's going to sleep that night. I worry about him being in jail since he was jumped last time he was in, but overall I think it might be a safer place than him being out on the streets. I tried to call Grace to see if she knew he was back in jail, but she didn't answer. I left her a message though. I have no idea how long he'll have to be in jail (if he is in there). I hope it's for a while, at least during the cold, snowy months.

Well, David's alarm went off, so it's time for me to head back to bed. It's a bit after 5am. Hopefully I can get another 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I'll blog more later today.