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something's gotta give
January 26, 2015
I sort of gave myself an ultimatum for 2015: make a major change to some aspect of my life.
If you find yourself hating every part of your existence, you should do something to change it, right?
So I for the first couple weeks of the year, I was so wrapped up in the swirling shitstorm that is my current life, I didn't really have time to decide what I wanted to change, let alone get started on it. And then, suddenly, something dropped in my lap.
I got a voicemail and an email from an associate, alerting me to a job opening up in her department.
A job that would fit me like a glove, allow me the option of working from home, and possibly provide a more secure outlook for the future.
A job that would promote me to a salaried position.
The job was posted on Tuesday. So after talking with my associate, I submitted a bid for it on Wednesday.
I received a response on Thursday, notified my supervisor on Friday (she took it fairly well), and on Monday (today), I had a phone interview. Which got slightly screwed up due to the HR rep not understanding what time zone I was in, but once we got started (I called her from my parked car after I got off work) it seemed to go well. From the way she kept phrasing things, it seemed like she was trying not to commit to me going on to the next round, but she expected me to.
Whew. I am not accustomed to moving like that on major life decisions! And since the last time I had to bid on or interview for a position was over 15 years ago, I was more than a little nervous! (I've changed positions and roles and even career paths multiple times since then, but it was always more of a personal and informal situation--getting hand-picked by higher-ups to help define a newly established role or take on a problem that needs to be adressed. This is a bit more radical and would require a transfer to a completely different division.)
I think this would be good for me--get me away from the toxic waste dump in which I'm currently mired, allow me to work to my strengths, strengthen me weaknesses, and shake me up a little.
I've been awfully worried about GSIL--she's still in the hospital. After her surgery, she didn't seem to be recovering as she should, so they had to operate again yesterday (Sunday). I hope she's going to be okay. It's bad enough having surgery to fix your cancer--but having surgery to fix your surgery really sux. But I talked to her, and to my brother, this evening, and she is doing much better now. And she won't have to do chemo, so that is a big relief.
She still has a week to go in the hospital, though, so I will send her some flowers.
Had a bit of a worry this morning, when I tried to turn on my tablet--it was all hosed up and when it shows a little dead robot on the screen, you tend to be concerned! Got it to reboot and I think it's okay now, but it was tense for a couple of minutes.
So in other news--my Phoenix is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I have to get started thinking about that. What clothes to take, whether to take my laptop or just the tablet (probably the latter, if it behaves itself), how much money I want to set aside for the trip...crap like that. Flying SW to PHX out of MKE, I'm not too worried about a lot of airport hassle. And I don't have to do my own driving, so that stressor is off the table. Really starting to look forward to it, now that it's getting closer. Told GSIL about it and she said that she thinks Daddy will be tickled to see me; as much fun as he's having, she thinks he is still getting a little lonely for his home folks. I let her know it was a secret--don't want them letting Auntie's cat out of the bag to Dad.
We had a pretty quiet weekend; Spouse was off Friday for his doctor visit. Got prescriptions for steroid cream and steroid shampoo. Of course, CVS couldn't fill the shampoo prescription, and didn't seem too concerned about it. He called his doctor today, and got it changed to a different shampoo that they could provide. Friggin' CVS is such a shit pharmacy. Hate that we have to go there for the insurance.
I sure hope this stuff he got from the doctor is going to work. He has been such a miserable thing, I can't stand it. And it is starting to wear him down--he's as growly as an old bear.
But since he was off, we went and ran some errands when I got home from work, and went to the new Taco Bell to get some tacos for lunch. They are definitely "still working the chings out" over there--they couldn't get the order system to work right, they couldn't make change properly, and when we got home, we found out they had shorted our order. Didn't make a big deal about any of it, since they just opened, I feel like they deserve a break.
Spouse decided he wanted to cook, so he made a fantastic stuffed roast chicken in the convection oven. The way he seasoned it, it tasted like a rotisserie bird. And he made mashed potatoes & gravy and baby carrots with butter and parsley--it was quite a lovely dinner for a Friday night!
On Saturday, we drove down to check out a hobby store in Winthrop Harbor (he didn't like it) and then drove on down to Waukegan to the Super Fresh Market. We hadn't been there in a while, and there is no better place to go if you want fresh produce and plan to do any ethnic cooking at all. I think our Taco Bell experience just reminded us both of how bad we wanted real tacos, so we got all the stuff we needed to do them at home on Sunday.
After we got home, we relaxed a while before going out to the little baar & grill where Niece works for a Saturday dinner out: Prime Rib. Which was fabulous. I was going to have the salmon, but Niece talks up the prime rib so often I felt like I had to try it. WORTH IT. The best I've had in many a long while, and a reminder of why I stopped ordering it--not too many places still make it RIGHT. This place, however, does. And they don't charge an arm and a leg for it, either. Soup or Salad, roll, queen cut, potato and steamed veggies for $18.00.
And a chance to see Niece, which is always good.
On Sunday, we had one of those days where it was mildly icky out, and we didn't have anywhere we wanted to go, so we just hung out at home. Spouse was tired and feeling lazy, so we decided to forego a big breakfast in favor of English muffins and coffee. After which, he dozed back off in his chair.
Me? I did the monthly knock-down, drag-out, flat-out war on the tub, shower & doors, scrubbing till they sparkled. I truly take no prisoners when I go at it. Squeegees and foaming cleaners are okay for a while, but sooner or later you just have to let loose. Took me 45 minutes, but damn, she was clean when I finished! That was the Sunday cleaning project.
The other Sunday project was a baking one. Spouse had been dancing around for three days, singing "Chocolate cake! Chocolate cake! Eat so much get a tummyache!".
Now I'm no dummy--I figured he wanted some chocolate cake. So I baked a devil's food cake with a lovely, silky chocolate buttercream frosting. I baked it off in layer pans, so I could freeze half the cake, and just made a small batch of frosting. one layer will give you 6-8 nice pieces of cake, and for two people, that is about the right amount to get tired of it with no leftovers. Plus, next time I only have to make some fresh frosting, because the cake is already baked!
Of course, once I'd baked and frosted the cake he wanted, he decided that it really should have some vanilla ice cream to set it off properly. So I had to do what I'd dared to dream I could skip for one day--put on my shoes and go out of the house. I ran out to get the ice cream
and came straight home--that was my big venture out of doors for the day.
He made his taco meat a little differently this time--browned the carne para tacos, then put it in the crockpot, with the seasonings and a little water, to slow cook for several hours. DAYUMM.
Fantastic. Full of flavor and tender as can be. With some good tortillas and fillings, finished with a generous squeeze of fresh lime, THAT's what I'm talking about when I say "I want tacos". Best part is, you don't need anything else to go with them. Followed by the cake and ice cream for dessert, they made for quite a fab meal all by themselves.
Anyway--that's about it. Can’t take the time to wrap it up elegantly, but wrap it up I must, nonetheless. ‘Tis what ‘tis.
Reading: "The Splendid Outcast" (1920) by George F. Gibbs I just started this one--it's about a soldier who trades places with his ne'er-do-well twin brother. Which he does on a WWI battlefield, in the middle of a battle. Yeah, it's pretty WTF so far.
Listening: Green Day, "International Superhits!"
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